Devil's Luck
by Poseida Lunar
Summary: Click to chapter 72
1. Devil's Birth

**Disclaimer: **One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei. I am in no way claiming it as my own. However, if he is willing to sell the eleven supernovas along with their crews, I'll gladly buy them! *Digs pocket for money* Oh, never mind.

**Author's Note: **I love Eustass Kidd, but I have a feeling that Oda-sensei isn't going to focus on this character or his past much, so I decided to write this. Chapter length varies, and updates are irregular. But I WILL finish this!

**Warning:** This is YAOI, pairing KiddxKiller. Nothing hardcore- most of the time it'd feel more like shounen-ai or just friendship, but yaoi will be there and I WILL warn people in Author's Note if one of those scenes come up in a chapter, which will happen about three times max in this very, very long story. I put this first because it's the one thing that most people get offended by... Other MORE explicit and graphic mature themes will be: character deaths (mostly villains if not all, but very gruesome and gory), excessive profanity, excessive drinking, violence(I don't need to say more on this) and a lot, _a lot_ of OCs. I will fill Kidd's crew with whomever Oda-sensei already introduced, but other than that, the majority of the villains and about half of the crew will be OCs. This story is also not beta-ed by a beta-, but by me. Unfortunately, I do not catch all mistakes so I apologize beforehand.

There is also a matter of Time Line and Universe. This story is about Kidd's past, and although it's not going to go with One Piece's plot, it's closely paralleling it. Since I'm also planning to write and update a lot faster than Oda-sensei would, when that point of intersection hits, I'm going off on a completely different direction of my own, making this AU as well.

The first chapter is boring, but don't worry, I've got tricks up my sleeves. 8)

Edit: This story is currently being beta-ed by Moore Thane Wood, who generously volunteered to revise this great heap of shit for me. Thank you, honey! =u=

* * *

From the moment he came out of his mother's womb, the soothsayer of the village deemed him to be damned. His red hair, a trait shared by neither parent, was said to resemble the flames of Hell. His sharp, piercing eyes were nothing short of a monster's. He was a black coal amongst gray rocks, an abnormality within the normality. They didn't even bother with a proper name, only calling him "kid", and later put that on his birth certificate, adding a second "d" at the end to make "Kidd."

His full name was Eustass Kidd. Age: Seventeen.

Right now, he was watching the mass of villagers who stood, trembling in fear, in front of a giant man with a sharp mustache; with the same bored, murderous expression he always wore.

Moments ago, he was at the river, fishing for dinner, only to be drawn to the village by a loud explosion. Of course, he did not hurry. Time did not matter for things like this. Rumors circulated quickly here, one or two hours would not make a difference.

However, the sight of houses lying on the ground reduced to rubble did. The sight of his parents lying in the middle of a pile of dead villagers, while the living ones looked as if they had just seen Death, did.

"LOAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And that loud, obnoxious laugh certainly did.

"FROM THIS MOMENT ON, THIS ISLAND IS THE TERRITORY OF THE CROSS-BLADE PIRATES, THE MOST FEARED PIRATE CREW IN THE SOUTH BLUE!"

A frown spread across his face as he observed from the trees. _Isn't that what they all say?_

"Like hell!" a woman screamed, marching up to them swinging a kitchen knife. "Get off our island! The marines are going to be here any moment and they'll shackle you just like they did the last crew of pirates that dared to-"

She spoke no more the moment a whirling blade struck her in the heart. The force of the throw pushed her backwards, and she fell down; dead, a few feet beside the rest who dared to protest. The rest of the villagers flinched and backed away from the bodies.

The captain grinned. "Anyone else?"

Someone choked a cry as they shot petrified glances at one another.

"Good. Weaklings should learn their place," he slurred. "I am 'Cross Blade' Ghanga. From this moment on, I own this island and every person who breathes its air! If you want to live, the price is five hundred thousand beri every month for adults, three hundred thousand for children. My men will go around in an hour to collect your payment. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE THEN PAY UP! ANYONE WHO CAN'T PAY WILL DIE! LOAHAHAHA!"

* * *

Kidd ground his teeth in annoyance as he stared from afar at the remnants of the house that he lived in, and sat down on the dirt ground, musing over just what it was he was going to do now. Without a doubt, he couldn't pay the fee. As far as he knew, his parents left him nothing- not even a house to sell now.

_Hmph__, like that piece of shit can even be sold__._ He scowled to himself.

Nobody would lend him any money. Nobody liked him because of his devilish appearance. Nobody liked his folks either because of his father's gambling (he already owed huge debts) and his mother's bitchy attitude.

The boy watched, his arms folded and tense as a gang of men in bandannas marched down the street with a bag full of money, guns all pointing and shouting at each household's inhabitants as they approached, demanding payment. Though over a good mile away, they were coming closer and closer to him. This wasn't looking good.

"Five hundred thousand more! Dun' think I dun' know! I saw 'er, I saw that woman wit' ya! Five hundred thousand more or ya take her place!"

The poor bastard screamed and stumbled back as one pirate drew a sword.

"I've got the money! I've got it! I'll get it!" The others burst into laughter as he ran into his house, crying.

_I'm not afraid of them. They're just thugs, no different from any other. But an entire pirate crew is another thing, especially when the captain is worth twenty million beri. What the fuck am I suppose to do now?_

"EVERYBODY GET OUT! IF YOU DON'T COME OUT THIS MOMENT, WE'LL BURN YOUR HOUSES DOWN!"

_There is nothing here for me anyway._

He got up, and walked away from the wreck that used to be his home and back towards the river, a plan brewing in his mind.

For the afternoon, he'll stay in the bushes and trees and eat. Tonight, he'll test his devil's luck against that captain.


	2. The Massacre Man

**Author's Note:** To _Jester310_,_ TwilightFever-FutureCullen_, and _Msaju17_; thanks for the reviews. For a side note, I made some corrections last chapter because I ended up finding a bunch of grammar mistakes rereading it. Oh well, on with the story! :D

* * *

"LOAHAHAHAHA!" A hand shot up beside the wide, open, laughing mouth and began to twirl a side of the black mustache. Two beady eyes stared down at the boy kneeling in front of him. "Join my crew? You want to join my crew?" Ghanga sneered. "A little punk like you thinks he has what it takes to be part of the greatest pirate crew in the world?"

Kidd pursed his lips as anger welled up inside him, and suppressed the temptation to resort to violence. What the hell was this man's problem? Don't pirates usually accept whoever it is that wants to become one of them provided that they pass a test of some sort?

"I'm strong." He seethed.

"LOAHAHA!"

_Stop laughing! Can't you do anything el-_

"ARGH!" He screamed in agony as his back hit the mast of the ship. Warm blood trickled from the back of his head. His side, where the blade had struck, throbbed.

"You haven't paid your fee for the month, have you!"

_Damn it._

"Heh, I heard about you. They call you the Devil's kid here, don't they? A boy with red hair, skin as pale as a corpse, and eyes like they can murder just by glaring. Heh, you don't live up to my expectations at all! You don't even match the strength of a Marine soldier. You're even weaker than those who tried to fight back earlier! Not paying my fee, and thinking you can get away with it by trying to join my crew?"

Just a cough, and Kidd's mouth was flooded with the taste of blood.

"Listen carefully!" He wasn't just talking to him anymore. This was directed at the whole crew. "I'm the man who will conquer the Grand Line! I will dominate all seas of the world! I will make all who see me bow in fear! I am the man who will become the Pirate King! In my crew, I have no need for cowardly weaklings! HEAR?"

"AY!" They roared back.

Kidd clutched the blade. It hurt too much to be pulled out, but he was losing blood. Damn it, this plan wasn't going well at all. He looked the part, he acted the part, how was he _not_ good enough to join a gang of criminals?

_Screw this!_

He'd get away later. He'll steal a boat while they sleep and row out of here. Rowing a boat was easy; he'd done it plenty of times. There should be another island close by too. Maybe there he could lead a calmer, unstrained life. Kidd didn't care how people looked at him, but he wasn't about to live under the thumb of an autocrat, if he lived at all.

The boy looked up at the captain who was now laughing and chugging down bottles of booze one after another, paying no heed to him. All around him, the rest of them mindlessly parroted their captain's action in suit.

_Stupid pirates._

"We've landed?"

Kidd's dimmed senses twitched at the sound of the new voice. He felt a slight chill in his bone as the new presence walked onto the deck.

"Oh, Killer-sama!"

"You're up, Killer-sama!"

_Killer-sama?_

"Killer, you're late!" Ghanga boomed.

The comment was ignored. "So we _have_ landed. Have we taken the island already?"

Kidd slowly looked up to be greeted by the back of a slender-framed man with long, spiky blond hair. He was the one radiating that intimidating aura.

_And he's talking to his captain in such __a casual__ manner. Who the hell is he?_

"Loahahaha! That's right, my son!" Ghanga gloated. "Too bad you missed all the fun. They put up more of a fight than the last one, and the marines actually appeared for these villagers. We dug up a great booty and you slept through it all! Loahahaha!"

_His son?_ Kidd coughed again, bringing up more blood.

"It doesn't seem over," Killer said coolly.

"Ah, that kid over there? He wants to join the crew. How about I give him to you, eh? I was about to keep him for myself to break, but father won't hog all the fun." Ghanga said.

"Why the hell would I want something so pathetic-looking?" Killer shot back, seeming irritated.

Kidd hissed with rage, his free hand clenched itself into a tight fist. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING WEAK, MASKED FREAK!" The words came out before he could stop them.

Silence rang through the ship, but Kidd found out that he cared less. He glared up through dimmed eyes as Killer turned around; the air seemed to cool around him. A leg lifted and struck him in the shin. Kidd clenched his jaw to prevent a scream from coming out, and only clenched harder as another kick landed in his gut. More blood spewed from the earlier wound.

"Cut him up, 'Massacre Man'!"

"Use your scythes, Killer-sama!"

"Kill him!"

Another kick.

'_Massacre Man' Killer with a bounty of ten million beri, I remember now- SHIT! Stop kicking me!_

The final blow; that came for his head, nearly knocked the life out of him. The kick throbbed and numbed him beyond the point of thinking. Cracked skull? Possibly. Kidd was sure that he wouldn't live past the night.

"Take him away." Killer ordered.


	3. In the Orlop

**Author's Note:** To _Msaju17, alleycat18, Son of Whitebeard, _and _doriansburial_; thanks for reviewing! Looks like the chapters are getting longer! XD

* * *

Kidd woke up to darkness. For the first few seconds, confusion flooded his mind. The floor beneath him was wooden, but not the rough bark of the trees he was used to sleeping on, nor was it the oak wood floor of his house. Then, the events yesterday returned to him; his house had been blown up, his parents dead. The second thing that struck him was the immense pain on his side. His hand flew there and found bandages.

Slowly, with deeper and more regular breaths, his five senses came back. He was positive this wasn't somewhere he had been before. There was a rotten, dusty smell to the place; like an old, abandoned farmhouse. Around him were boxes and casks of stored goods. Along with his side, his head had been treated; the smell of rubbing alcohol was quite strong. After minutes passed, he came to a conclusion about his location; the only logical answer, the orlop of the pirate ship.

"Che, you'd think they'd have a torture chamber specially for prisoners or something." Kidd commented, slowly sitting up, but moving carefully so as to not reopen the closed wound, as his eyes became more and more adjusted to the dark. "At least I'm alive." He frowned. _I wonder why._

After a quick examination of the room, the only exit he spotted was through a metal door. Kidd swore silently to himself as he stood, wobbling on his feet. Approaching the door one step at a time, he wondered if it was still a good idea to escape now. Perhaps he had been here for so long that they had forgotten about him; maybe this was an opportunity. If no one was onboard escape might be easy. A good pirate ship would always have a rowboat or two for emergency_._

_Escape would be easy. If only I wasn't injured, _Kidd thought crossly to himself,_ like hell am I gonna make it now._

He placed a hand on the rusty handle-

The door was flung open before he even turned it.

The impact sent him tumbling back, and his hand immediately flew to the throbbing wound at his side. Only then did he still in fright at the sight of the large silhouette that was blocking the exit.

"Ah, the brat's awake," the man grumbled, strolling past him and picking up a large barrel at the back with ease. "I'll take the rum and tell Killer-sama."

Five seconds later, he was gone.

* * *

_Hmph, what's the point to keeping me alive if they don't even leave food? Stupid pirates._

For the thousandth time in the twenty minutes that passed- at least Kidd thought it was twenty- his stomach growled, and he growled along with it; pissed. He had not been hungry in years. True, his parents sometimes neglected feeding him, but that was only a problem up until he was seven; when he'd learned how to catch fishes in the island's little river and kill wild little mammals for food. He practically lived in the woods- the house was only a place to sleep when it wasraining.

But now he was hungry, and he couldn't escape to get food.

Another rumble.

Kidd eyed the barrels and debated with himself for the umpteenth time whether to crack one open and steal a bite or not.

_Who cares? They'll kill me one way or another_.

He plopped a small barrel down in front of him and pulled out the cork. The strong smell of rum filled the air and he wrinkled his nose. It smelled like his old man's vomit- something that was never pleasant to nose. But along with hunger came thirst, and beggars couldn't exactly be choosers. Besides, it was about time he had his first sip of alcohol. Seventeen years of watching his father drinking one bottle after another did arouse some curiosity.

Kidd carefully lifted the barrel from the floor, and took a sip.

Bitterness overwhelmed his taste buds, and he spat the mouthful out, gagging as his stomach lurched in disgust.

_What the fuck is this shit made of, horse urine and rotten egg?_

"You have to add three cups of white sugar and stir well before serving. Drinking it straight out of the barrel is foolishness." A familiar voice cut him off mid-cough.

Kidd turned around and snarled. "You!"

"My men reported that you were awake." The intruder said. He closed the door and settled a plate of food on the floor along with a container of what seemed to be water.

Kidd swallowed his words and simply glared, though his eyes kept darting between the masked man and the food.

"I decided not to kill you," Killer continued. "You will be a cabin boy on this ship and must obey my order above anyone else's, Cross-blade's included."

Kidd stared at him. Killer seemed to be smirking beneath the mask.

"Joining this crew was what you wanted, wasn't it?"

_No! No it wasn't!_ Kidd clenched his fists, ready to protest. He merely wanted to make escape easier! But a cabin boy... Wait, that could work.

"You cannot escape by rowing a boat to the next island," his menace continued. "People have tried that before; the nearest island is twenty miles away, with the current against you."

"What the hell do you want?" The redhead barked.

"I will train you how to fight and kill-"

"Don't fuck with me!" He shot up and began to swing his fists, only to have Killer kick him back against the wall, creating a huge dent. Kidd winced in pain.

"You are _weak_." The tone in which it was stated angered Kidd more than anything else; it was laced with disappointment, vexation and arrogance.

"Am _not!_"

"Ghanga is a mad, but ambitious and _strong_ man. I will not allow you to be weak."

Kidd glared. "Like that has to do with anything!"

But Killer said no more, only walking silently out of the orlop and closing the door behind him, a click indicating the locking of the door.

Rage filled Kidd like never before. Sure Killer called him weak the first time on the deck, but actually _meaning_ it and repeating it? He'd admit that he wasn't much stronger than most boys his age, but why did it matter if he was weak? What the fuck was that scum's problem, keeping him alive and then calling him weak? It made no sense, dammit!

Kidd tore the meat from a drumstick and threw the bone against a wall, chewing the rubbery flesh and glaring daggers at the door with all his might.


	4. Training, Day One

**Author's Note: **Thanks goes to _TwilightFever-FutureCullen, alleycat18_, and _Msaju17_ for reviewing!

I don't know if any of you caught on yet but... The Kidd I'm portraying now isn't like Kidd in the manga. He's younger, way more immature, and personality-wise very different. If you can't get his personality through my writing, then I'm afraid that I failed you on that point. -_-' But Kidd doesn't only act differently, he also doesn't look the same. For one thing, He's a good head and a half shorter than Killer here (around Luffy's height). His voice is more boy-ish than the anime, it will change _and_ I'm planning on making it hilarious. His hair is down (without the goggles yet), and I don't believe that making him _born_ with black lipstick is very appealing... Just thought I should mention these things. His growth will definitely come soon, along with personality-adjustments to morph him into manga-dated Kidd, or the normal Kidd that everyone fell in love with, at least I did. XD

Killer is pretty unchanged in this story.

(1) _Jiji_- _Grandpa, old man_

* * *

"What is your name?"

A mumble.

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"Maybe if you take off that damn mask-" A sudden drop in air temperature shut him up. Kidd pursued his lips stubbornly and stared at the ground. "My name is Eustass Kidd," he finally answered through gritted teeth.

The tension lifted as Killer moved to sit down on a tree stump and looked down upon him. In response, the redhead directed his gaze upward, not bothering with any head movement.

"Hmph, a kid named Kid, how fitting."

"You!" Kidd growled. "Don't make a pun out of my name! It's 'Kidd' with two Ds-"

"I'll call you whatever I'm in the mood for, _brat_," Killer coldly cut him off.

Kidd growled again, about to protest, but suppressed the urge and sneered instead. "Sure thing_, jiji_(1)." Although it was intended to provoke the masked man, the retort seemed to have no effect and only served to irk himself further as said masked man leaned back casually, crossing his legs.

"Your training starts today," Killer began. "I had the ship's doctor find out your muscle mass and strength during the time you were unconscious, and anyone can say that they're nothing of the extraordinary, I would even consider your fitness below average for your age. During that time, I also gathered information about your previous living conditions. The villagers claimed that you were considered cursed when you were born because of the abnormal features you possessed that neither of your parents shared-" Kidd flinched at that. "Whether there was any form of abuse is unclear, but it _is_ clear that you started living on your own from the age of eight; only going home or seeking other forms of shelter occasionally.

"It's said that you were very often spotted near the island's river, hunting in the forest and sleeping in trees. The time of the year that you most often returned to the village was during the last two months of winter to avoid periodic rain and snow. Interactions with others your age were very limited. You rarely went into shops, since the majority of your food came from hunting."

_What the fuck are you? A stalker?_ But Kidd kept his mouth shut, waiting to see where the man was going with this.

"That means that you have experience with killing, even if you've only killed animals."

Kidd narrowed his eyes. "I kill for food. What's wrong with that?"

A moment of silence passed, and during that time, he had a feeling that Killer was smirking behind that mask. He tensed, yet his heart was pounding like mad, as if he knew a dangerous predator was about to devour him alive and he could not move to prevent it.

"What if you needed to kill another human being in order to survive?"

He blinked. "Oh, I see what this is. I'm not a murderer, but you're training me to become one, right?"

"I reiterate my question."

"Che, why not? This is life, and the privilege of living is only granted to the fittest," Kidd responded in the most carefree voice he could muster. "But aren't you afraid that if you train me too well, one day I might kill _you_ in order to free myself? Or are you that cocky?"

"So you answered 'yes'." The rhetorical questions were totally disregarded. "That's all I needed to know."

"What are you planning then?"

"A simple test."

_Test?_ The word somehow made Kidd uncomfortable.

"Bring her out."

The order wasn't directed at him, which puzzled Kidd even more, that is, until two men he recognized to be infantries of the crew emerged from behind a huge oak tree. That wasn't what resolved his confusion, with them was a girl, barely eight, and most likely from one of the nearby villages. She was tied up, mouth taped and big brown eyes filled with tears. Kidd's own two eyes widened at the possibilities of what Killer might want him to do.

_You've got to be kidding me!_ He spun around and snarled at Killer almost animal-like.

"Give him the dagger."

One of the underlings held out a dagger. The blade shone in the sunlight; it was newly sharpened. The girl's cries were muffled.

"No."

"Killer-sama?"

"I said no!" Kidd shouted. "Why the fuck should I kill her?" He turned his glare toward the weapon-holding infantry. "Get that dagger out of my face!"

"Kill her," Killer commanded.

"No!"

"Kill her, or I'll kill you."

"What?"

His neck stiffened as his skin detected a sharp steel edge; a scythe. "Kill for survival. Life only allows the fittest to enjoy it, isn't that what you said? Eithershe dies, or you die, which one do you choose?"

"You twisted my words!" The scythe pressed harder, and a sharp pain was felt in his neck as the blade penetrated the skin. Blood tickled down his back.

In front of him the little girl struggled against the rope, all effort was wasted; it only got tighter and tighter. She cried out again, muffled, as the other man lifted her off the ground. The man with the dagger held it out again. This time, Kidd grudgingly took it, hand trembling furiously.

_It will be easy, like killing a rabbit._ He lined the blade tip up with the center of her chest, where he often aimed when killing his food.

But the girl wasn't a rabbit.

_It's still the same thing; she dies once her heart stops._

Killer's scythe suddenly left his neck. He knew it was still there, just further away. At the same time, it seemed that the girl's mouth had accumulated enough saliva to loosen the tape; it fell right off, exposing her mouth and the full force of her scream.

Her desperate wailing pierced Kidd's ears; she was calling for her mother, following that was the chanting of "I don't want to die!"

"Well?" Killer said.

No.

_No, she doesn't need to die. YOU do!_

He spun around, stabbing blindly, and was stopped by the scythe, which knocked the dagger out of his hand. A strong arm swung at his abdomen, flinging him a good ten feet as if he was made of toothpicks. His original wounded side, now mostly healed, exploded with pain at the impact, and seconds later again upon landing.

"Killer-sama!" the two men yelled.

The masked pirate put away his scythe. "Take her away and dispose of her as the captain ordered. I'm done with her."

"But-"

"That is an _order_," he snapped harshly.

"...Yes sir."

They left, dragging the crying child behind them.

"Get up," Killer commanded.

He did, slowly, but eventually stood, though unsteadily. There were many things he wanted to say but he had bitten them back, knowing by now that they wouldn't have any effect on Killer.

"Ruthlessness," the man lectured, "is seeing a clear line from where you're standing to your objective, and walking along that line, terminating all interferences. You lack ruthlessness."

Kidd's blood boiled. "Isn't that the same thing as being a _monster_?"

"If she gets in the way of you and your goal, you must kill her. Today's circumstance is rather irrelevant, but if it had been a real situation, you wouldn't have done it either, am I wrong?" Killer said.

No, he wasn't. "Only monsters like you do things like that! You were about to kill her anyway, weren't you?"

"I'm right, aren't I?"

_Why the fuck do you care?_

"Calling me a monster just goes to show you how clueless and innocent you are, brat."

_What the hell?_

"That child's mother was 300,000 beri short for the fee," Killer continued in an amused voice. "She had a son and a daughter. We gave her a choice of one of them dying: the mother, the son, or the daughter. It wasn't a difficult decision.

"This world is much crueler than you think. Only the fittest survive, and in this era, the fittest are strong pirates who're not afraid to take life. You are far from one."

The last statement was the straw that broke the camel's back for Kidd.

"I never wanted to be a pirate!" he screamed. "Don't lump me with your lot just because I won't kill for entertainment! It's all you pirates' fault! If people like you didn't exist, do you think any of us would be worrying about the things we have to right now? Money and fame, that's all you pirates want! Don't think you can make me one of your crew, 'cause you can't! You _can't_!"

As soon as that was done, chagrin overcame him, and Kidd wished that he'd never lost his temper to the point of vocalizing his thoughts.

"Stop screaming like an idiot," Killer said, and started to walk away. "It's time for dinner now."


	5. Lose of Control

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reviewing, _Stefi-chanKonaKona, allycat18_ and _Msaju17_! Another change of mind, I've decided to make future chapters longer, because I've found out that I really, really hate doing short ones with little substances. -_-' Of course, this means less frequent updates, but I hope it's worth it. I had planned more for this chapter, but only got it halfway done before realizing that it's been over two days since I updated. *Pouts*

* * *

Pirates, how should he describe them?

Eustass Kidd stared at his plate, although it wasn't the object of his focus. His eyes were heavy and bloodshot from a lack of sleep, having been constantly alert over the course of three weeks. The training with Killer wasn't doing him much good either. Three weeks had passed; five days since Killer had entrusted a weapon to him; the same dagger he'd given to him on the first day of training, claiming he knew that Kidd wouldn't try anything unless he had a death wish.

For three weeks, he was forced to sleep with the lower caste members, who occupied the rooms on the first floor of the sleeping quarters and the berth of the ship.

It had been that long, but nobody had tried to kill him yet.

"What's 'de matter, Cabin boy? You ain't eatin'!"

The thing was, pirates were no different from anyone else, except for their table manners, which were absolutely atrocious, and they _smelled_.

Kidd kept down a mouthful of meat as someone not two feet beside him let out the loudest, most disgusting fart he'd ever encountered, that was, until another one next to the same man let out an even more revolting one.

Pirates; they were loud, noxious, but ultimately stupid to the point of harmless. It also helped that they all ignored him, that was, until tonight.

"Ah, the new cabin boy can't take it!" a tanned man with a pierced left nostril hollered as he took his place next to Kidd. "Bring him some booze, he needs to get wasted!"

"AY!" someone else hollered back.

Minutes later, Pierced Nostril, slammed a mug down in front of him, laughing while gulping down a small barrel of beer. Kidd reluctantly took it, remembering his previous experience with booze back in the orlop. For three weeks he had been sneaking back to the river for fresh water, avoiding the drinks here at all cost. But now... He held it up to his lips.

"C'mon, what kind of a pirate don't drink booze!" Pierced Nostril shouted at him, repeatedly slamming his hand on the table. "Drink up, drink up!"

He took a gulp, it was the same horse urine with rotten egg one, only it tasted sweeter.

He forced it down, expression souring as the taste registered in his taste-buds.

"That's a good boy!" the man boomed. "Hahaha!"

_You're annoying,_ Kidd thought, irritated, as the man started to boast about a previous fight with another crew. _Go bother someone else._

"...I slain eight heads! Eight! That was my greatest slay in one fight so far, and it was one of our greatest digs too! That pirate ship had just finished attacking a merchant ship not two days go, and their treasure cases were _packed_ with beri bills and booty! We struck a stash of over seventy million beri! Ain't that great, eh newbie? Hahaha!" Then he looked around twice before leaning in, too close for Kidd's liking, and whispered in a low voice. "There was box too, no one could get it open. Not even the captain. It's been sitting on his desk for months now. They say it must be some great treasure that's worth hundreds of millions of beri. Some said it's too light to be gold. Do you want to know what I think it is?"

_I don't care!_

"A Devil Fruit! I heard from places that people are willing to buy them for two hundred million beri in black markets."

"Devil Fruits aren't real," he replied flatly. "Quit wasting my time."

Veins popped out on Pierced Nostril's forehead, and the man leaned back staring at Kidd, his gaze moving up and down, looking slightly ticked either because he knew that nothing he could say would interest the boy, or because of the dismissive comeback. Said boy cast him a bored glance and lifted another forkful of food into his mouth, chewing slowly.

Then the man decided to strike a nerve, "Say, you're Killer-sama's new plaything, right? We've been talking about you."

That got Kidd's attention. "What do you say?"

A grin. "You know," he went on "it's strange. Killer-sama's toys up till now have only been women. It's funny how he'd keep you, out of all those cute village boys on this island!"

It was Kidd's turn to be provoked. "What the hell are you implying, bastard?" Kidd snarled. "Don't mess with me, I _will_ kick your sorry ass if I have to."

"Hahaha! You're a mere cabin boy we picked up, what can you do!" Pierced Nostril said with a snort. Then his face darkened. "Don't think you can ignore your superior's words just because Killer-sama took an interest in you, you little shit. When I'm talking, you _listen_ and you _respect_!"

_So he's mad about that. _"Hmph." _Not even worth arguing._

The enraged man's face twitched at the haughty response, and slammed his fist down in front of Kidd, crushing the plate and even part of the table. "Did you hear what I said?" And slowly, silence wove fell on the crowd of partying pirates.

_Ultimately stupid to the point of harmless; unless provoked, then they're like bulls that have spotted red,_ Kidd corrected, a shadow falling over his eyes as the silence dragged on.

"You little punk, you'd better learn your place on this ship!" Pierced Nostril threatened. A large hand suddenly grabbed the front of Kidd's shirt and lifted him into the air. The spectating crowd began to grow restless as the man pulled a cutting knife from his belt. "You have the audacity to give me that kind of attitude? I'll make you pay for this!"

Kidd spat in his face.

The people around them sniggered.

An enraged roar from the man was all the warning he got before the arm that held him by his collar swung down, slamming his entire body on the ground, breaking the floor of the deck. The rest of the pirates, by then, had been caught up in the blood-thirst as well. Their laughs echoed in his mind as Pierced Nostril loomed over him like a giant, knife high in the air, prepared to bring it down.

"Get him! Kill him!"

_Like hell I'd let you!_

His dagger caught the knife just in time; the shorter blade was inches from his throat. Seizing the opportunity, Kidd pushed up, forcing as much power as possible into his left arm and directed the dagger to _slice_. In an instant the man was reeling, screaming in pain while clutching his injured right arm.

"You!" he screeched. "You tried to kill me!"

"So what if I did," Kidd hissed.

"He's getting violent! He's ready to cut some throats! OI, CABIN BOY-"

"SHUT UP!"

"I'll send you to hell first!"

_BOOM!_ The floor beneath him gave away when Pierced Nostril punched it. Kidd jumped back, only to need to jump further away when his enemy pounced from the other side of the hole, weapon poised. Kidd swore under his breath as he blocked another attack. This man was huge, how could he be so damn fast?

"KILL! KILL! KILL!"

His eyes cast a two-second glance at the crew's new chant jaw clenched, knowing that this might not end until one of them ended up dead.

The two seconds spared was all Pierced Nostril needed; he ran towards the boy with the knife aimed for his neck. Kidd barely had time to be surprise. He ducked. The strike missed its target, slicing his right cheek instead, from the ear down to the tip of the chin. The crowd howled with approval as blood gushed out of the cut.

Kidd touched the new wound and his hand pulled away red. Behind him, Pierced Nostril started to charge at him again, shouting something about how many pieces Kidd would be diced into after he was done. Kidd, however, wasn't focused on that at all.

A surge of monstrous fury flared up within him as he stared at his own blood. He had decided; he would tolerate Ghanga, because the man was a pirate captain and he would be utterly brainless to go up against someone like that. He would endure Killer's torture because he didn't have a choice. But he will _not_ let some third-rated pirate push him around like this.

Kidd clenched his bloody hand and he tucked the dagger away into his belt. Seeing the bastard bleed wasn't going to cut it. He wanted to hurt. He wanted to break every single bone and leave him paralyzed, regretting he'd ever tried to pick a fight with a child claimed to be that of the devil.

Two seconds after seeing his own blood, Kidd dodged the attack, and his balled fist collided with the man's gut. Pierced Nostril's face twisted in shock and agony as the force of the attack sent him flying back. He coughed up a mouth full of blood as his body hit the wooden floor, creating dents along the way.

The reaction was deafening.

"Holy fuck..."

"THAT'S IT! FINISH HIM OFF, CABIN BOY!"

Kidd didn't need their encouragement. All the repressed wrath he had accumulated within him the last three weeks broke free of their restraints. Fists ready and sustained on adrenaline, he punched Pierced Nostril as hard as he could, delighted to hear the man crying out in torment.

It felt damn good.

Kidd lifted his foot and delivered a kick, in his mind replacing the bloody face of the man with the masked head- Killer. Just like Killer kicked and hurt him, he would do the same.

_Too bad you spent all that time teaching me about fighting, son of a bitch! Some day, this is what I'm going to do to you!_

And he kicked again.

"I'LL MURDER-" Pierced Nostril never got to finish his sentence when Kidd landed another blow at his jaw.

"Oi, Cabin boy, you'll really kill him!" someone screeched. He ignored it.

"This is bad!" Kidd grabbed the man by the collar and threw another punch. Another howl of pain, then it trailed off into a sound closer to that of a dying animal.

"Someone get Sencho-sama. He's going insane! CABIN BOY, YOU HAVE TO STOP IT! IF HE DIES, THERE'LL BE TROUBLE!"

_Trouble? Who cares about that? W__asn't__ I in trouble from the beginning?_

"Bah! Let him do his stuff! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

Kidd didn't know how long he was at it. There were some people who tried to pry him away from Pierced Nostril, but he threw them all off. Their desperate pleas for him to stop did not matter one bit, neither did their deafening cheers that cried for blood. All he could comprehend was the anger. He was sick of this place, sick of pirates and sick of Killer.

_Just die!_ His mind screamed, and-

Something struck him in the middle of his stomach just as he was ready to send the sorry bastard to hell.

It was a foot, a very familiar foot, he'd been kicked by it countless times by now. His body was thrown on the floor for the second time that night, and he gagged as his mouth flooded with the coppery taste of blood. Even without seeing that mask or hearing that voice, he immediately knew who it was, just from the kick.

_Damn you..._

"Get that trash to the ship's doctor," Killer ordered, head turned sideways to indicate he was talking about Pierced Nostril. Two other pirates immediately ran to their crewmate and carried him away. The rest looked at the situation with disappointment, relief in some cases.

_Fuck this. I'm as good as dead now, aren't I?_

A bigger figure stepped in beside Killer. "What the hell is this, my son? This is the new pet I gave you right? Didn't you train him right?" Ghanga looked down at a scornful, bloody Kidd with interest.

"It seems like he is having some disciplinary issues. I thought that he was more or less tamed by now."

They were talking about him like he was a stray dog they'd picked up! The boy closed his eyes and swallowed another mouthful of blood, trying to sit up, only to be discouraged when his abdominal muscles experienced a painful spasm. No, no use, trying to get up would be the last thing he should do. Let them say what they want. Later, he'd take revenge later.

The captain sneered, twirling a side of his mustache. "Tamed or not, he nearly ended up killing another crew member. We'll go through the proper apology ceremony once he heals up." He casually started to stroll away. "I'll leave the brat to you, you know what to do."

"Of course," Killer replied, then turned his head down to face a pissed, but worn out Kidd.

_Fuck you, __you__ scum._

"Get up."

"I can't," he shot back. "Don't bother making me!"

The air tensed. Kidd panted heavily as he closed his eyes so he didn't have to face all the stares. He knew what they were all thinking; newbie is dead meat, nobody speaks to the second-in-command like that and gets away with it. So what then? He coughed out some of the blood. Hell couldn't be worse than-

Being lifted upside down into the air snapped Kidd out of his thoughts. His senses were in full panic mode as blood rushed to his head, quickly giving him one of the worst headaches he'd ever had in his life. Not only that, the grip on his leg _hurt._

Kidd howled with rage as he dangled in mid-air, Killer holding him by the ankle. "Put me down! Damn you! PUT ME DOWN!"

Of course, that was ignored.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Kidd tilted his head away slightly as the alcohol-drenched cotton dabbed at the gash on his cheek again. "Oi, stop moving and answer me!"

"He started it first!"

"How old are you? Five?"

Kidd opened his mouth to protest.

"I told you to stop moving!"

They were back in the orlop, with his wounds more or less treated. "Che, why won't you just take me to the ship's doctor then?"

"He's got a more serious issue to attend to- an issue caused by _you_. Here, put this on yourself, idiot." Killer snapped before throwing him a good-sized bandage. "I don't know what he did to set you off, and I don't care, but you lack control. A lack of control is the worst thing a pirate can have-"

"I'm not a pirate!"

"Shut up and listen!"

Kidd took a deep breath and held down his vexation.

"Someone like you would be dead in a minute in a serious battle. A lack of self-control is the same as being totally blind to everything around you. It exposes your weakness and gives your enemy the upper hand. You should be thankful today's opponent was just a weakling from the crew."

Lectures, lectures and more lectures, he was sick of them.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you so determined to train me to be strong? You know I hate you."

Kidd stared at the mask, wishing it would disappear so he could at least see what Killer was thinking.

"That does not matter," came the answer. "You'll understand it all later."

"It's been three weeks. I'm not wasting my time anymore if you don't give me a proper explanation! You decided to push me into this direction without giving me a choice, now you won't even tell me why I'm doing this. You won't even let me see your face! What's so bad about at least giving me some clues to figure out your intentions, huh?"

"The guy will most likely be conscious tomorrow. Someone will send for you. The rule of the ship is if you ever harm another crewmember the punishment is apublic apology. You will bow to the man and plead for forgiveness-"

"Don't screw with me!"

But of course, that was ignored as well.


	6. A Show, A Talk, An Unexpected Display

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17, allycat18, Stefie-ChanKonaKona_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing! :)

Well, this is a retype, as I lost chapter six in a very confusing grammar-correcting, chapter-replacing session and couldn't get back the old document, so I had to write the whole thing over. I tried to get everything right, but... it just doesn't have the feel the previous version had. Sadly, this is the best I can do. -_-' Hope this still fits fine.

(1)Shichou-san- Mayor

* * *

True to Killer's words, someone did come the following morning to get him.

"The captain said that you have ten minutes to get ready," that someone said the moment he opened the door.

Kidd flinched in annoyance as the morning sunlight hit his eyes, and hissed, turning his back to the person, in no mood to get up at all. He hated being woken up so early in the morning, and he hated being woken up by the intrusion of someone else. With such a shitty day ahead, he had no intention of getting up and living it any earlier than he had to. With eyes closed, Kidd stubbornly remained unmoving as his escort continued to stare down at him.

"You have to get up," the man continued. "Everyone gathered on the deck already, the captain included."

The boy growled back. "All right, I'm up."

"The ceremony will be relatively quick and easy if you follow their orders. It won't even take five minutes," the man, whom he saw to be not five years older than him, told him with a calm face. "I'm sure Killer-sama already explained the proceedings to you. You are to bow to the captain and the victim, and say a sincere apology. Then you have to promise that you'll never harm another crew member again, and declare your loyalty to the captain."

Kidd grunted, patting off the dust and dirt he picked up from sleeping on the floor, before grudgingly following the escort out.

"You don't need to do anything else?"

"Didn't you say that I only have ten minutes?" he snapped.

The man chuckled.

Kidd ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the man with distrusting eyes. "Who are you?"

His escort smiled and answered, "My name is Honda Saru. I got picked up from the last merchant ship that Cross-Blade raided. You're Kidd-san aren't you?"

"A merchant, huh?" He knew next to nothing about merchants, but he knew that they were not pirates. "No wonder you seem nicer."

They walked in silence the rest of the way there. After five minutes of walking at a slow pace, a crowd could be seen, and a couple of heads turned at the sound of their footsteps. Kidd's expression grew sullen as he saw a couple of men grinning wickedly at the sight of him. They had been looking forward to this.

The pirates opened a path for them, and immediately, Saru blended in with the rest, leaving him standing alone in the middle of the wide circle. He looked right and left and received nothing but faces hungry for entertainment. He wanted to run up to each and every one of them and beat to shit out of them until they could smile no longer.

He hated this.

In front of him, ten feet away, Ghanga sat on his chair like it was a throne, drinking nonstop from the bottle of booze he had in his hand. To his right stood Killer, like a living statue. The masked man looked his way and he glared back with hatred, remembering the aching kick from the evening before. He fought the urge to touch the wound in his stomach, and looked to the left of the pirate captain, where a bandaged Pierced Nostril stood with the help of a crutch.

The bastard's face was mostly covered in white, leaving holes for his nose, mouth and eyes. Bandages wrapped him from his forearms, covering his entire upper body. His right foot was in a cast.

For a moment, Kidd admired his handiwork as Pierced Nostril sneered back. Of course, a moment was only a moment. He wished that it'd lasted longer.

Cross-Blade let out a deep sigh of satisfaction as he finished his last gulp, wiped his mouth, and forced Kidd's attention back to him with a fierce look. "Bow."

Kidd's teeth clenched at the words, and refused to move a muscle as his blood boiled. Bow? Why should he?

Pierced Nostril's sneer deepened.

"I said 'bow'!" the captain snapped.

He glanced at Killer, who gave him nothing in return.

_You're enjoying this too, huh?_ The steaming anger began to boil. But he knelt, determined to look at nothing but the floor as he placed his hands on it, forehead nearly touching the ground. The sniggering started instantly. The boy felt chagrin flood his entire being as it started from his left by a couple of men, pretty soon, the whole circle of pirates were on it as well.

_They call this an Apology Ceremony, but it's really intended for nothing but public humiliation, isn't it?_

A grunt from Ghanga, "Well?"

The crowd snickered and snorted more as Kidd's face scrunched up with absolute rage. Sorry? Was he sorry? Ha, that was a laugh. He had never said the word "sorry" in his entire life. He had never regretted or felt sorrow for anything he'd done, and he certainly wasn't sorry that he beat up Pierced Nostril. That son of a bitch deserved everything he got.

_I won't do it._ Kidd decided, headstrong, as the jeering began. _I won't do it. You can't make me!_

"Oi brat, hurry up!" Ghanga demanded. "I haven't gotten all morning for this!"

_Then you shouldn't have initiated this. You're the one who want to waste time. I'm not sorry, and I'm not pledging loyalty to anyone, you scum!_

_I won't do it! You can't make me do it!_

"Kidd."

It wasn't loud; it was spoken as if he was talking to the boy face to face. It wasn't a command, just a simple utter of his name. Yet, such a simple utterance stopped the fury inside of him for just a split second, crushing all pride and stubbornness. He froze with his eyes widen, lips pursed. Then it all came roaring back again, and his will screamed, furious.

_No! I won't!_ Kidd clenched his fists, hands picking up the dirt on the floor while doing so and slightly denting the wood as he fought with himself.

A growl was heard from Ghanga, who was obviously ticked.

"Kidd," came Killer's voice again, this time spoken with a stronger tone.

He broke down. "I'm sorry." The words felt like peanut butter in his mouth, and the way he said it sounded more like it should be said with, "I'll rip your throat out." But he did what they wanted, and that was all that mattered, right?

He took a deep breath and continued, calming himself little by little.

_I'm a third of the way done. It'll all be over soon._

"I'll never do it again." this time colder, more controlled.

_This is just like lying, nothing to it._

"And I'll never disobey the orders of my captain." He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to pass.

Cross-Blade burst into laughter as the audience hooted with a blend of delight and mockery. The captain took a full swig from his bottle and grinned at him. "See, kid, that wasn't so hard was it, huh? I knew that Killer would beat some sense into you! Loahahaha!"

Kidd bared his teeth as the laughter rang on around him and he endured it. At least it was over. They got their damn apology, now everything can move on.

Pierced Nostril, however, wasn't following his train of thought. "Captain."

"What?" Ghanga said, and the noises stopped.

"Cabin boy wasn't being sincere."

_What the hell? How else am I supposed to "be sincere"?_

"Oh?" Kidd could hear the chuckle in his voice. "Well, what would you like him to do?"

The boy's eyes narrowed dangerously as his hands balled into fists. This couldn't be happening! This wasn't part of the ceremony!

"Make him kiss my feet."

_What?_ "You can't be serious!" Kidd lifted his head and snarled.

"Who said that you could raise your head, boy!" Ghanga screamed, and a knife landed inches from his face, but he completely disregarded the warning. "I told you to KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!"

The boy took no note of that either and looked towards the captain's right with a dark glare at the unmoving masked man. _What the hell?_ He silently screamed, even though he knew it was hopeless since there was no way the man could hear his thoughts. _You better stop this, Killer! They can't do this to me! Tell them to stop, you're their vice captain, _make_ them stop!_

"Is that brat, serious? Sencho-sama, dice him up!"

_If you make me, I'll never forgive you!_

"Teach the little runt his place!"

_Killer!_

Instead, Killer lowered his head towards him and said, "Do it."

Kidd's inside exploded with fury at the two words, his face twisted with wordless rage as he began to see red. Two more knives were thrown, and slowly, he lowered his head once more.

He'll kill them someday; he'll rip them apart! They'll regret ever laughing at him and putting him through this. He'll make each and every single one of them sorry! And Killer too, _especially_ Killer! They'll all pay!

_I won't do it!_

"Hey, you heard Killer-sama! Do it!" someone howled.

Something hit him on the head; it wasn't a great impact, but enough to give him a split-second headache, and he looked up, seeing Pierced Nostril's scorning eyes staring down at him. The foot kicked him again, and this time, he noticed the foul odor beneath the smell of rubbing alcohol, and he dug his fingernails into the wood.

_Put that near me again and I'll rip it off, you bastard!_

"C'mon, Cabin boy, you brought it upon yourself! Hahaha!"

Killer's voice rang out again. "Kidd, _do it_."

_No!_ He told himself as rage stormed his mind like a hurricane. _Bear __with__ it. The time for revenge will come._

Kidd pressed his lips together, stomped down his howling pride and fury, and placed a kiss on a bandaged part of the foot. The deck fell silent the moment he did so.

He got up- what was only two seconds seemed like eternity-, and wiped his lips with his sleeves, still looking at the floor. The crowd burst into a fit of laughter all around him. With teeth bared, he began to walk away, not even bothered to wait for Cross-Blade's dismissal. The fun was over for them, where he went after this was of no concern to them. He walked past groups of pirates on either side of him, and jumped off the ship to head for the forest, not meeting their eyes.

If he caught sight of their mocking expressions, he wasn't sure if he could control the urge to beat the shit out of them.

"He really did it! Did you see his face just now?" he heard a man shout. "Devil's child indeed! What a funny island! Ahahaha!"

Kidd turned around and gave them a murderous look, and their expressions faltered, their grins wavered as they backed off in fear. With that, he resumed walking away.

"...Tch, he just looks scary, that all! That's nothing we can't handle. Oi, Cabin boy, be ready to kiss my feet next! Got that?"

* * *

Maybe he was a little too harsh.

"LOHAHAHA! What a funny brat, he's really too much! He looked as if he was about to murder us! MURDER US!" Ghanga howled with laughter. "What a hilarious entertaining item we picked up! It'll be a lot of fun to break him, wouldn't it? LOHAHAHA!"

Behind his mask, Killer stared wearily as said brat jumped off the ship. This was probably the first time in his life that Eustass Kidd went through such degrading treatment. Whether or not he'd learned from this was debatable, though, it _had_ been an interesting display. His pledge was ambiguous, one that no one on this ship would doubt unless they knew the boy.

"_I'll never disobey the orders of my captain._"

Killer averted his eyes to Ghanga's direction.

_The keyword was "my", wasn't it? __You never acknowledged Cross-Blade as your captain._

"Eh, Killer, why are you not laughing?"

His lips twitched downward with irritation as he was pulled away from his thoughts. "I see nothing funny to laugh about."

Ghanga stared at his son with an unpleasant expression. "Hmph, you've always been a distant child, Killer. I used to remember you standing by the gate, greeting me every time I came home with a big smile on your face."

"I don't believe that I know whom you're describing," he said icily.

"What an unruly attitude you have towards your own father," the pirate captain slurred. "How did they raise you?"

Behind his mask, Killer bared his teeth at the rhetorical question. "That's not your place to criticize." He strolled away, passing men and jumped off the ship as well.

"Killer-sama, the cook said that breakfast will be ready in half an hour!" someone hollered.

He paid no heed to that.

* * *

Kidd howled his soul out as he smashed a fist against an old oak tree. Seconds later, the wide trunk broke horizontally and fell with a ground-shaking thud. Not that he was surprised in the slightest; the redhead was too filled with rage to care. He was already onto destroying the next standing ancient, bringing it down easily with two kicks.

The trees lay on the ground, each destroyed by punches and kicks of strength that he didn't even know he possessed. That didn't matter though. The strength to knock down trees was nothing compare to the power needed to decimate an entire pirate crew- that's what he really needed.

He roared as his foot met another trunk, making a tiny quake as it hit the ground.

"Are you done?"

He snarled, and spun around to see his object of enmity leaning against a tree. "GO AWAY!"

Killer's head turned his direction. "Take today as a lesson."

"Shut-up!" he screamed back, and ran towards the man, fist poised for a punch. "I said 'GO AWAY'!"

The tree behind Killer exploded into pieces the moment his fist collided with it, but the man still did not move. Kidd glared up, ready to attack again, only to have Killer extend a hand and push him, sending him flying back some twenty feet. He fell on his back to absorb the pain better and rolled into an upright position, breathing heavily.

_So him wanted a fight? Fine!_

He took the dagger from his side and began to charge, intending to stab the masked man's heart and end it once and for all. His attack got stopped midway by one of the scythes, and he reacted by gripping the other's wrist, planning to slam him down. Somehow, he did not notice his own wrists being shackled, and his body met the forest ground seconds later in a bone-shattering collision; the hard ground of dirt and stones caved and cracked around him.

Kidd spewed out blood.

"Not fast enough," Killer said. "You lack speed, strategy and accuracy. You've displayed potential physical and psychological prowess, but they're raw and unrefined. I've told you, to lose to emotions is blindness- it will only kill you in the end. It's all about self-control. This also concerns the matter of your physical strength; so far, you've only shown it when you're angry, you need to be able to use that strength anywhere, at anytime. It is yours, _control_ it."

"Shut-up," Kidd spat. "Go away! This is all your fault!"

He released the boy. "My fault?"

"You could've stopped them! You could've helped me!" the boy accused. "Yet instead of putting an end to that pointless shit of a ceremony, you _made_ me apologize! Did you think that was funny?"

Killer snorted. "I made you? When?"

Kidd punched the ground and glared. "Don't play dumb! You ordered me to do it! I wasn't going to say sorry, nor did I ever plan on kissing another person's foot! You're the one who told me to, bastard!"

"Yeah, I did," the masked man said in a cool, easy voice, as if nothing was wrong. "But when did I _make_ you do it? Whether or not you responded to my encouragement was your choice."

"Choice? What choice did I have?"

"The same choice you would have had if I wasn't there at all," Killer said, and Kidd's face twisted with chagrin. "Stop blaming other people for your own stupidity."

Kidd wanted to protest. He only did it because Killer said to!

But- and the redhead hissed as this occurred to him- did that mean that he submitted to Killer's whims?

No, he would never. He would die first!

"I hate you," he seethed.

"Yes," Killer blandly replied. "You told me before."

He snarled. "I'LL KILL YOU, JUST YOU WAIT!"

"Hmph, you told me that too."

Kidd clenched his fists and glared at him, straight at the mask, knowing that there were eyes behind it, staring back. "Don't mock me! I will kill you someday! I'll-" He then sneered, having a better idea. "...No, I _won't._ I'm simply _hurt_ you instead! I'll break you into so many pieces that you'll _beg_ for death! I'll make you _submit_ to me! How do you like the sound of that, huh?"

Killer remained impassive. "Maybe you will someday. Keep dreaming in the mean time, pipsqueak."

* * *

Five more days passed since the "Incident", as everyone on the ship preferred to call it. At first, there was teasing and bullying, but after seeing how severe Pierced Nostril's wounds were, they more or less got scared of him, and left him alone after some time. Though, there was trouble from several ship guards who had been that bastard's friends. Said bastard was still in the infirmary getting his injuries treated. In addition to that, there was talk floating around of the possibility that Ghanga might get rid of the guy, as he would most likely become a cripple even if he did heal up. A cripple was a burden to a pirate crew, and they couldn't have that.

Kidd paid no heed to them. He had other things at hand. Training with Killer hadn't helped with his mood either.

On the morning of the fifth day, he woke up in a state of dread despite the perfect weather, and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep as everyone else filtered out of the room for breakfast. Only the smell of food making his stomach growl made him considered getting out of his hammock.

It had been exactly one month since the Cross Blade pirates landed; today was Fee Collection day.

"Oi, Cabin boy! I heard they treated you pretty badly here before!" someone shouted, and Kidd stopped his chewing to glance sideways at the man. "How about coming with us and slitting some throats, eh?"

"Don't get me involved in your dirty work," he snapped back.

"Meh, he's no fun anymore," another said.

And that was the end of that morning.

After finishing the errands, he proceeded locking himself in the orlop for the rest of the day. He didn't want any villagers they'd bring back to see his face. The islanders hated him enough before, but if they ever learned that he was serving on this ship, acting like a part of this godforsaken crew...He didn't want to imagine it.

There was a knock on the door. "Kidd-san," that Honda-guy said through the door later that evening. "The party started."

_Damn party._

"I got it," he growled, pushing himself off the floor. "I'll bring out two."

He walked over to the back and tipped two large barrels of sake on the ground and began to roll them towards the door.

"...LOHAHAHA!" The loud, annoying laugh of the pirate captain filled his ears the instant he was out in the open. "A NEW BOUNTY! HERE IS TO TWENTY-FIVE MILLION BERI AND THE FUTURE KING OF PIRATES! DRINK UP, MEN!"

"AY!" The crowd around him roared back.

_You? The next Pirate King? _Kidd sneered. _Like hell you can__. I've heard tales of The Grand Line. Someone like you wouldn't even last a day there!_

Then he scowled to himself. _I sounded like Killer just now._

_Speaking of __which__, where is he? Shouldn't he be out here celebrating as well?_

"Oi!" he called to a group of men by a corner. "Where's your vice captain?"

"Killer-sama's up in his room," one answered.

"That's right, he never eats with us."

Kidd looked up and saw that, indeed, one of the windows upstairs was bright while the others were dimmed, and nodded, heading for the food table.

_I suppose his mask does get in the way of eating. What's the big deal though? He can just take it off._ A flash of what Killer might look like went through his mind, and he pushed the curiosity away. It wasn't that important.

* * *

Kidd popped the last grape into his mouth and chewed lazily, staring up at the star-filled night sky, leaning back on the table. All around him were bodies, and the entire place stank of the smell of sweat and booze. The party was long over, and everyone else was either dead tired or dead drunk. He supposed that he should get some rest too, since it'll probably be him who has to clean all this up tomorrow morning with the crew experiencing hangovers.

The boy scowled darkly and sat up straight as a cold breeze traveled through the air. Yes, he should go.

He took one last look at the gentle, serene waves and the twinkling stars before heading for the berth.

A wink of light made Kidd stop and turn.

There it was again.

He narrowed his eyes and stalked over to the rail, looking out into the forest, where the light blinked a couple more times before a dark figure in cloak emerged from behind a tree.

It was... "...Shichou-san(1)?" He muttered as the old village mayor stepped out into the open, and took off the hood. "Oi, old man, what are you doing here?" he called out. "You got a death wish or something?"

"Kidd, we need to talk," the mayor said.

The boy hesitated, glanced around him once more, and jumped off from behind the rail. He jogged up to his guest. "Make this quick."

The mayor sighed. "So you did join the pirates."

Kidd flinched. "They already knew?"

"You disappeared a month ago when they arrived, and we know that you didn't have the money to pay their fee. Someone also said that they saw you heading for the beach later that evening, then a couple of pirate scum came around our village a day later asking about you. It was pretty obvious, child," he said.

"Tch," Kidd snorted. "Don't get the wrong idea. I only joined to make escape easier. Now they're forcing me to be part of them. I'm not a damn pirate!"

The old mayor said nothing; his expression only got more grave as time went on.

Finally, he spoke. "Eight people died today, Kidd."

A shadow fell over Kidd's eyes. "Yes, I know." He had heard more than enough from the crew during the party about the villagers who couldn't pay the fee. They were killed, tied to logs, and thrown off a cliff into the sea. "So what about it?"

"You must help us," he went on. "You're our only-"

"Must?" He sneered. "I _must?_"

The mayor's mouth quivered with despair. "Please, listen... You're the only source of information we have right now. I know that you're unwilling, but I'm the mayor of the village and one of the leaders of this island. I'll do anything to save our home!"

Kidd backed off, baring his teeth. "You think I owe you, old man? Sure, you saved me from infanticide, but what made you think that I'm in any way indebted to you? What have you done after that? Nothing! How have the people of the villages treated me? They're only a bunch of fools who'd take anyone's word if it could save their lives. They took the words of a damn soothsayer and casted me away like trash. Give me one good reason why should I help them!"

No response.

_Of course not. He knows that everything I said is true. He wouldn't argue __with__ me, especially when he's trying to get something __from__ me._

_Just go away, old geezer!_

"It's true," the man began again. "I saved you, but abandoned you at the same time. I didn't help, I won't deny it. We casted you away out of selfishness." He looked into the boy's glaring eyes. "You have every right to leave us to those pirates. But think of the children, Kidd! If we die, it wouldn't matter. But the young ones are another matter altogether. They're innocent, and they've done you no wrong! Please, if you would at least save them. You know what it feels like to be alone. You're bitter and resentful, but I know that you're not heartless!"

_You..._ He was ticked. "You don't understand my situation at all! If it's just the crew, you think I'd have trouble beating the shit out of them? I'm more than ready to haul their asses to hell by now! It's the captain and the vice that are the problems! I want to live too, so why should I risk my life to save a bunch of people who've been kicking me around for the past seventeen years?"

"Any information, any weaknesses will do," the old man pleaded hopefully. "The children, Kidd, please consider their safety!"

He clenched his jaw, defiance wavering. "Fine," he spat.

The mayor waited.

"Their vice took an interest in me," Kidd told him. "He's been training me, but I wasn't given a reason why."

"The Massacre Man?" he asked with surprise.

Kidd nodded. "That's all I have," he said coldly. "Get the hell out of here, geezer. You won't be so lucky next time as to catch them all drunk."

The old man put his hood back on again with trembling hands and backed away, glancing at the boy ever soon often before finally taking off into the woods.

Kidd watched him go. _Fuck this shit._

* * *

Seconds later he was back on the ship, making his way once again to the nearly empty food table only to find his appetite gone. The redhead sighed and slumped down on the bench, tilting his head back again to look at the night sky. What was he doing before that old man interrupted him? Oh yes, he was going to sleep.

Kidd growled under his breath at the new trouble they'd just dumped on him, and pushed the weight away. Nothing happened yet. He'll start thinking about it when the time comes, in the mean time, it was best not to worry about trivial matters.

His sight, previously so focused on the stars, found itself focusing towards a dark window on the second floor. Killer's room was lightless now, meaning that the bastard must have gone to sleep as well. A slight feeling of anger flared up at the thought of the masked man.

_Meh, he's just a know-it-all weirdo with an obsession with that stupid mask. I bet he'd get his ass kick on the Grand Line too, and then we'll see how tough he really is!_

He wondered if he should sleep outside.

_What does it matter now?_

And with the comforting thought of Killer getting beaten up by some _real_ pirate, or possibly a marine, Kidd closed his eyes, drifting away into a light slumber.

...

_Creak._

The sound woke him from his dream, and his facial muscles twitched with irritation.

_Creak._

He cracked one eye open and glanced at the intruder.

_Oh, it's only Cross-Blade._ The eye closed again.

Both eyes snapped only a split second later to see Ghanga disappearing beyond Killer's door.

_What the hell?_

Kidd sat up; fully awaken by the strange happening he'd just witnessed.

_What is he doing up so late? And in his son's room while Killer's sleeping._

Kidd watched the window for moments, but saw no light came on. He stood, and smirked.

_This should be interesting._

As quickly as he could, the boy climbed up the stairs stealthily, making no creaks and no sound at all as he headed for the room's opened door. Once there, he peeked inside.

The first thing he saw was Killer lying in the bed, presumably asleep. Kidd felt slightly disappointed as the mask was still on; he'd been hoping on the way here to see what Killer truly looked like. _So he even sleeps with that thing on._

The second thing he noticed- a few moments later- was the dagger Cross-Blade had at his son's throat. On the captain's face was a maddened grin as the blade pressed into the exposed neck, digging dangerously into the skin, though there was no blood as of yet.

"That's a good child. Let me see her face again," Ghanga whispered sadistically, two fingers creeping under the mask...

_What the fuck is he doing?_

The dagger changed angle and-

Kidd slammed his body against the door and stumbled onto the floor of the room, fake-wincing with pain.

"Quiet down..." Killer hissed, sitting up in his bed, holding his head in his hand. "What the hell are you two doing in my room?"

Ghanga's face melted from the murderous look he sent Kidd to a grin. The dagger was gone. "Why, I was only checking on my beloved son. Is that wrong for a father to do?" He smirked slyly as he turned to the boy on the floor. "The real question would be for Cabin boy here?"

"I... I wanted a better look at the moon, so I came up here and..." His mind searched for an excuse, any excuse. "...I tripped."

Killer disregarded both. "Get out of my room," he snapped. Kidd had never heard him sound so pissed.

Cross-Blade grunted and immediately began to walk out. The boy watched, eyes as piercing as a hawk's as the older man stepped out of the room, sending him one last glare. He glared right back, his sight not leaving the pirate captain's back.

"I thought I told you to get out!"

Kidd turned his attention back to the one in bed. "He tried to kill you."

"I know!" Killer snarled. "Get out!"

"Did you not hear me? He just tried to kill you!"

"I heard you the first time!" the masked man was never closer to shouting. "And I also believe that I told you to get out!"

At this, Kidd picked himself up off the floor slowly, shaken by everything that had happened. He stepped out of Killer's bedroom, and closed the door behind him.

Things had gotten a lot stranger.


	7. A Plan and the Unfortunate

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _doriansburial, allycat18, Msaju17_ and _Stefi-chanKonaKona_ for reviewing! :)

* * *

"Here."

"...A katana?" Eustass Kidd eyed the weapon in his hand with suspicion and interest before looking up at Killer.

"This will be your blade-companion from now on until I say otherwise."

"...Why are you making me switch? And why a katana?" Kidd felt annoyance welling up inside of him, knowing that the bastard was at it again- making another decision for him without his consent. Shit, did he have no personal freedom at all?

"This is the only katana I could find on the ship, though it's nothing out of ordinary," the masked man said. "So far, all you've handled is a dagger; short-bladed, ineffective in battle, and having few known techniques to master. We've done all we can with it. The time has come to move on to something else. From constant observation over the past month, I can see that short-range isn't your fighting style. You have speed, but a dagger does not enhance that that nor your strength, which you display better free-handedly."

Kidd frowned and gripped the dagger he had by his side. "I don't know what you're talking about. This is just fine."

"'Just fine' isn't _good enough_."

It was the afternoon of the following day, a day that seemed no different than all others he'd had since the beginning of his sentence in this crew. The lower-ranked infantries helped with the big clean up; to his relief and surprise. Life went on normally for the pirates. Nobody had woken up the night before; nobody saw or heard the incident in Killer's bedroom.

But just because it wasn't public didn't mean that Kidd was able to brush aside what happened- in fact, it made it worse. There was an attempted murder on Killer by Ghanga, on the vice-captain by the captain, on a son by his own father. And it wasn't done publicly either, the way a captain would conduct an execution of an offending crew member. Ghanga had tried to act as if nothing was wrong.

It couldn't be 'nothing'.

But Killer did not bring it up either, so Kidd did not press the matter. Like his revenge, he decided to bide his time. Everything will become clear soon. Once he could beat the shit out of them, he'll personally make Killer tell everything.

"What's the difference between a dagger and a katana? It's only longer," he retorted, sounding bored.

"We're only testing for your perfect weapon now, that's all. Throw the dagger aside, you may not touch it during this session," Killer commanded. "For the next couple of weeks, you'll be required to wield swords of all different components and purposes. Mastering a few tricks along the way; even if your dislike them, won't do any harm later on."

Kidd more or less accepted the explanation, and casted the dagger aside. True, knowledge was power, he couldn't argue with that philosophy.

Killer placed a hand on the nearest oak. "Cut this tree."

_...Cut a tree? _His face twitched with disbelief. _Ha! What does he take me for, when I can smash one of them to smithereens with my bare fist?_

Nevertheless, Kidd positioned the sword in his hand, like he would with the dagger, and swung at the tree with all his might. The blade got stopped a third of the way through. He grunted in surprise and pushed the blade further in, getting it to move an inch deeper, but soon, the effort wasrendered useless. He then tried to pull the katana out of the trunk, planning to cut the tree down the next strike.

It wouldn't budge.

Kidd's eyebrows furrowed as he tugged again, only to receive the same response from the stubborn blade. _What the hell is wrong with this thing?_

"Try sliding it out a little first," Killer advised in a flat tone, earning a sharp glare from the struggling redhead.

But he followed it anyway. With a final pull, the sword came free, and he stumbled back a few step from the backlash of force. He glared at the cut in the trunk, annoyed; stupid oak and stupid katana!

"You did it wrong."

"It's not _me_," he protested. "Who the hell uses a duel sword like this to cut _plants_? If you want this tree down, give me a fucking axe instead!"

Although the mask was in the way, Kidd was sure that Killer's face was nothing less than murderous, given how the air seemed to drop some degrees just now. The man advanced towards him and he stiffened, only to have that tension broken by surprise as the katana was taken out of his hand. He watched attentively, curious, as Killer walked pass him.

The masked man stopped in the middle of a clearing and positioned the sword above his head horizontally- _He's not even in __the__ range of a tree. What is he doing?_

He swung the katana.

Kidd widened his eyes. It was... different, somehow. The sword was handled and aimed at a gentler slope, and the arm moved in a loop of some sort. The swing held a grace that he lacked, and there was a flash of silver, almost like a phantom, following the movement of steel through the air. The air... He wished he had time to blink so as to prove to himself that he wasn't seeing things- the air _rippled._ Precisely two seconds later, the trunk of a thick oak tree about ten feet from where the man was was split by a diagonal cut, and fell.

All this was done without the blade touching anything.

"That... That's not possible!" he managed to sputter dumbfounded once Killer returned to a relaxed stance. "You didn't even cut it! You were nowhere near it!"

Killer flashed the katana beneath the sun, almost admiring the work of the blade. "_Wielding_ a weapon is much more than just wielding it. Each weapon is invented with a profile of strengths and abilities. It is up to the owner to manipulate them and use them to manipulate what is around them." He tossed the sword back to Kidd, who caught it by the hilt. "A katana is merely intended to be a dueling or battle sword. Like every other of its family, it's meant to stab and cut a human body- the sole reason for its creation. However, applied with enough agility and skill, a wielder can develop the ability to send the force and pressure in an attack through air, thus giving many swordsmen the advantage of being fighters of both long-range and close combat.

"What you just saw is exactly what I'm describing. It is a transferring of energy and force into my weapon and directing them toward my target in the swing.

"In order to accomplish that, you need to think of the katana as a part of you, and not allow yourself to see it as an alien attachment. Apply your grace and skill to the deadliness of the blade and become one. This doesn't just go for swords either. In arrows, it is a matter of gathering your strength at the tip. In spears, the wood when rotating, the tip when attacking."

"That's still impossible for a normal man to achieve," Kidd said, a little calmer now. "Normal people cannot slice air."

Killer lowered his head, and the boy had learned by now that this was how Killer glared at you. "You," he said, "are not normal."

A vein popped on Kidd's head. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"Take it as a compliment, _brat_," Killer shot back. "I want you to learn that within the next two days before we move on to something else. If you can't even master a simple trick by then, tie yourself to a log and jump off the cliff."

"What?" Kidd snarled, outraged. "There's no way!"

"Hmph, this world has no place for the ones who can't keep up."

He growled back for the lack of a better response, and knowing that it'd be in vain to go up against Killer. Besides, he wasn't stupid; he knew there must be some sort of trick involved with it. Humans did not have the ability to channel energy in swords. That was something left up to the freaks to do-

As soon as he thought that, Kidd flinched.

_I'm not abnormal_, he argued. _It's only because I look different. There are plenty of explanations out there that can tell __me__ why I am who I am._

Out the corner of his eye, he watched Killer as the man headed back to the ship, most likely getting him a bite from lunch, as he'd always done when there was training during meal time. _Oh, I'll figure it out by then, _he thought smugly, holding up the blade in the sun.

"You're gripping it wrong."

Kidd spun around. "Go away!"

"Your hand position is amateur-ish," Killer went on, once again ignoring his command. "A grip like that will never cut properly, only deal accidental damages, and it will definitely set your aim off. I'll bring back some books later. Study from them."

"Goddamn sadist," Kidd muttered.

* * *

Honda Saru found no difficulty in jumping off the ship. If anyone stopped him, his excuse would be "I'm going out for a walk", and that was partly his intention too. However the three guards he walked past did not even spare him a second glance. _Oh, it's only one of the cabin boys, __but not the fun one we pick on-_ meaning Kidd-, their faces said, before resuming their conversation.

He bowed his head as a sign of respect a junior would show a superior as he walked passed them, before climbing down the ladder, and walking along the shoreline.

All around him the sound of waves hitting the sand filled his ears. No foot steps; no one was following him. That was good, expected, but still comforting to know. He could not afford to be seen.

"Hey," someone called him out after a while, and he snapped his head up, alert. "What are you up to? You look pretty worried."

Saru turned around and pasted on a grin. "Good afternoon, Kidd-san. You're training?" _Is that a katana?_

The redhead boy grunted, looking ticked. "I asked you first," he said stubbornly, and Saru smiled, knowing that it probably wasn't going well between him and the vice-captain, again.

"I'm taking a walk," he answered. "I heard there was a river between two of the villages, is there?"

Kidd grunted again and disappeared amongst the trees.

Saru sighed and ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, strolling on and chuckling to himself. Really, he couldn't see why the islanders hated the boy. He did not understand the story of his birth, as the others had recounted it to him, from what they heard from various villagers. They said that Kidd was considered bad luck because he had traits which neither of his parents possessed. There was something about a well-respected soothsayer, who declared the child cursed by the Sea Devil and must be gotten rid of. There was talk of infanticide, but Saru never confirmed it. Though, whether it was true or not, it was never put into effect, as said child was still alive and standing today.

Not that he cared, really.

Looking out at the beach brought Saru's mind back to his own home island in West Blue. It was the same soft sand, the same-looking tides and the same cool, silky breeze he was used to as a child.

He closed his eyes and took deeps breaths of the salty air.

The last merchant ship the Cross-Blade pirates raided was over six months ago. Its name was_ Megumi, _his father's ship, named after his deceased mother.

They left their home because of financial problem. His father packed everything, withdrew all their money and boxed all trinkets. They had a few business partners with them, and had planned to cross over the boundary into South Blue to start a new business in Meridiano, the closest island in the Southern sea to The Grand Line, a marine-stationed place with a thriving trading center. Who could have predicted that they would be attacked by a gang of sea thieves on the twenty-eight day?

Despite the warmth of the sun, he shivered as a chill crawled beneath his skin. He pushed the memories away, refusing to relive it now.

Saru stopped. The pirate ship was nowhere to be seen. He looked up ahead, where a bush rustled strangely.

"I came alone," he notified.

The five village mayors emerged from the bushes, one after another. They eyed him wearily, one having only spoken to him once.

"Teijo-shichou told me about your proposal, young man," one of them started. "And I told him that we should not trust a pirate who'd go as far as betraying his own crew."

He shifted nervously.

Another added, "If Cross Blade found out, it won't be just you. It'd be the entire island-"

"I'm the only one who can help, please listen to me," he cut in.

"Kidd. The boy call Eustass Kidd, he's with you too, isn't he? I spoke to Kidd-"

"No, Akio!" another snapped. "Don't bring that devil into this. This man is willing to save us for a place in one of our villages. The odds are already against us from the start. Adding bad luck to this ordeal is the last thing we need!"

The young man lifted up his eyes in surprise. They spoke to Kidd too? Did the new Cabin boy promise to free the villages? He clenched his jaw, uncomfortable with the idea. He hated Ghanga more than anything else even if he had kept it hidden during the past few months, playing the part of the cowardly son of a merchant who was willing to bow and serve the murderer of his only remaining family. The tyrant's death would mean a lot to him.

But if Kidd helped, what would happen to him after that? Most likely, the marines will be called and round everyone up, including himself. Saru's insides squeezed with fear; getting arrested was not part of his plan. He must sway the villagers to his side.

The one called Akio sighed and lowered his head. Saru could see that he must be the leader of Kidd's village, being so concerned about the boy.

"We shouldn't trust a pirate," the second elder who'd spoken earlier, grumbled.

Saru frowned with determination and looked at the man dead in the eyes. "Then I'm not a pirate. I never wanted to be. I only obey their orders for thesake(preservation) of my life. Please trust me and lend me aid to overthrow Ghanga; I know I can do it!"

_The...bl- blade of a...ka...ta...na...is...made of ...steel... that is...hi...highly...car-bon...nized. Then it is fold-ed in a ne...nearly? Nearly...hom... hom...homo?_

"Hom-o-ge-ne-use?"

"The correct pronunciation is 'homogenous.' In the passage, it means that the composition of an item is uniform. This passage is giving you a general overview on one of the many different processes of sword-making. A blacksmiths would fold one layer over another before heating it slightly, and then solidifying the sword into the proper shape," Killer explained in a snarky tone.

"Then you should've just told me."

Killer closed his eyes and ground his teeth in frustration. "Why are you still on page five after two hours?"

"Because this book has no pictures!"

Beneath his mask, the Massacre Man had just opened his mouth to throw another remark, but stopped, slightly unsure of what he had just heard. "...Excuse me?"

"I said 'this book has no pictures!'" Kidd repeated, as if it was the most natural sentence for a seventeen year old to say. "There is no way I can finish. The writing is too small and the words are too long. Hell, _nobody_ could finish reading this!"

"...Someone _wrote_ it, and _finished_ writing it."

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

Killer, once again, held down his critical instincts, racking his brain, trying to find an answer as disbelief filled him. Then the truth of the situation came to him seconds later, and he silently cringed, cursing himself for not seeing the problem earlier. "Kidd, I want you to write your name."

"Huh?"

"Just do it. Write out your full name on the ground."

Ten minutes later, his nightmare was confirmed.

There on the dirt were chicken scratches of what appeared to be letters if one squinted hard enough. From what Killer could read, the dumbass did spell his name right, at least.

However the second line in the letter 'E' was longer than the two others, as oppose to shorter. The tail of 'u' made it look almost like an incompletely 'y'. 't', 'a', 'K' and 'i' were normal enough to be recognizable at first glance. The second 'd' at the end of 'Kidd' was blown out of proportion compared to the first. The three 's's were all backwards.

Kidd had put on a dark scowl, as if daring him to say anything.

If he had been a more expressive person, Killer decided, he would be laughing and crying at the same time. Instead, he stayed silent.

He should've known; the brat had been living by himself since the age of eight, going and coming whenever he'd liked. He wouldn't stay in school if no one forced him to. Killer supposed that it was only by luck that Kidd wasn't completely illiterate. He knew his name, and how to read, despite how slow a reader he was.

_That still doesn't __excuse__ the problem._

"Give me back the book," the masked man finally said.

"Why?"

"You're staying out here. Test different holds and swings until you get it right. I'll be back by evening."

Kidd gave him a pointed look, but handed the book over, looking relieved before picking up the katana again.

Leaving Killer to walk away, wondering if his stick-figure drawing skills had dwindled any.


	8. An Enemy's Offer

**Author's Note:** Thanks to d_oriansburial, allycat18,_ and_ Msaju17_ for reviewing!

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter for some odd reasons. It... flowed out very well... Enjoy! :D

* * *

_WHOOSH!_

The blade struck the same tree once more, leaving another deep gush along with the forty-something other cuts on already there. Not that he was trying.

Kidd gathered up the last of his hope and strength and swung at it again. Of course, like all the effort he'd put into last time, the same happened; nothing. The permanent scowl he had on since this morning deepened, and he took his hand off the katana before sitting down, leaning on another tree. He picked up the diagrams Killer had given to him last night, which only heightened his terrible mood.

_"Wielding a weapon is much more than just wielding it. Each weapon is invented with a set of strength and abilities. It is up to the owner to manipulate them and use them to manipulate what is around them."_

_He said that it's a transfer of a energy from self to weapon, but how the hell can anyone do that?_

Not for the first time- more like the millionth- Kidd wondered to himself what was he training for? Just what Killer had planned for him? Why did Cross-Blade tried to kill his own son? Honestly, what was the big secret? Ghanga struck him as a man who'd do anything he wanted. Killing his own kin would not be out of character at all. Yet, why the bullshit about Killer being a 'beloved son' then? Was he scared?

Kidd's head lifted up at the new possibility: Fear.

He got up, took the katana out and twirled the sword in sunlight, his mind in deep thought.

Ghanga feared his son for whatever reason, therefore, he felt the need to eliminate Killer in secret, knowing that an all out execution wouldn't go in his favor. Killer feared his father... perhaps; he was strong, but he couldn't be more powerful than a captain, could he? Whatever reason it was, Killer hadn't tried to kill Ghanga even though he knew about the murdering attempts. Therefore, he must feared that tyrant to not take revenge. It was only logical.

_And then there is me. How do I fit into this?_

_Of course, there is always the mask... That night, there Cross-Blade said something about a 'her', didn't he, while he had tried to take the mask off?_

The more Kidd thought about it, the more confused he was. Nothing fitted the clues! He hated it, he _hated_ not knowing something when it concerned him!

His grip on the hilt tightened until the feeling of the rough cloth against his palm hurt, then the pain subsided. Maybe it had to do with the frustration; the sword felt lighter in his hand. But Kidd was too distracted by the puzzle in his head to pay much heed to minor details. He was tired of the mind-games, tired of Killer's silence and scoldings. The plan somehow involved him, he knew- knew but did not _understand!_

Kidd held the sword over his shoulder and hurled it at the abused tree with all his might, getting angrier by the second. The blade rammed high into the trunk. Moments later, as Kidd was still seething about the problems, the tree let loose a painful, cracking sound, and fell apart in halves, shaking the ground.

It drew him away from the boiling rage inside, and he slowly walked closer to where the katana lay in between the halves.

"So this is it?" he muttered. "Well, at least I complete the first stage. Now I just have to figure how to channel my strength through air." Then he snorted to himself at the absurdity of it all.

* * *

Kidd returned to the ship by nightfall with the katana by his side, utterly dejected, beaten and hungry as hell. It seemed that Killer had forgotten about either lunch or him, since he did not came at all, and Kidd was too lazy to get some himself, thinking that the Massacre Man would show up sooner or later with something. Was he wrong.

A few crew members scooted away the moment they saw his face, shooting weary glances; the scowl from the morning had still not gone away; in fact, it worsened. The best he could do was to keep his footsteps under control, and not stomp every time he put a foot down. Finally, he arrived at the food table and swiped a large drumstick off a plate and bit into it rather sloppily. But that was okay, everyone else used the same table manners- empty bottles and cups scattered here and there on the decks, bones of various animals joined them from time to time. Nobody sat down properly, either standing or sitting within their little circles, doing other things that would make any civilian lose their lunch or scream while running away.

Kidd got more or less used to this.

"Oi, Cabin boy!" someone shouted, waving their arms back and forth in the air. "That poor fucker you beat up died this morning, ya' hear me?"

"Che," he responded, and ripped the last piece of meat from the bone before tossing that aside, way too angry to be affected by Pierced Nostril's death.

"Lovely evening, isn't it, Kidd-san?"

The boy turned around to find that Saru guy behind him, holding a cup of beer. "Yeah, what do you want?"

Saru chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I'm just making conversation... But I guess you're not in the mood? That's fine, I'll-"

"Have you seen Killer?"

"N-No." The older male the frowned. "Actually, yes. I saw him heading for the other side of the island right before noon. He hasn't gotten back yet as far as I know."

"Hmph, and I was ready to give him a piece of my mind, that damn bastard," Kidd mumbled, recalling his wait during lunch time and the cruddy stick figure sketches that made no sense. "Oi, Honda-"

"You may call me, Saru-"

"I'll call you _Honda_," he snapped back. "And don't make a big deal here, your fucking name isn't that important." The older one's face twitched at the puerile declaration. "I only want to ask you a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

He asked the only question out of the many appropriate to ask. It was a rather harmless one out of all he had. "What does Killer look like?"

"...Huh? What does Killer-sama look like...? Kidd-san, is that a rhetorical question? You spent every with him."

"I mean his face! What is his face like? Why the hell is he wearing a damn mask all the time?"

Saru looked stumped. "Uh...I think it's because-"

"Hey, cabin boys," a large man with a red unibrow interrupted, grinning at them at crazy. "Are you two talking about Killer-sama's face?"

"Not really-"

"Yeah, so what if we are!"

"Kidd-san!" Saru hissed.

"What?"

"This isn't a safe topic!"

Kidd gave him a look and turned towards Unibrow, who by then had caught the attention of quite a few others with his booming voice. The boy grinned at him. "Go on, I'm hearing you."

"Zehehehe! Ah, his face is the greatest mystery on the ship, ya know," the brute started. By then, there were definitely people listening, whispering amongst themselves about the brought up subject. "Nobody- _Nobody_ here know what he truly looks like. It's quite funny in a way! Zehehehe!"

Kidd narrowed his eyes at that.

"Oi mate, you better not let Killer-sama hear you say that!" someone mocked, stirring up laughter. "He'd murder you with his scythes!"

"I heard his face got burned in a fire," a closer man said. "I heard that it's like Frankenstein; he's so ugly that he's ashamed of it! That's why he hides behind a mask!"

"You got a death wish, baka?" someone screamed at the previous speaker, howling with laughter. "He's really gonna dice you up for that! Hahahaha! But Cabin boy, let me tell you something that we all know; the last guy who tried to remove his mask got his head cut off clean!" He made a notion of his hand cutting his neck. "I saw it! It was quite bloody!"

"Ay, me think dat was de first time Killer-sama killed sum'un in de crew!"

"No, no! Remember the one with that ear full of rings! He was the first one!"

"Ahahaha! I remember that pathetic bastard!" another said.

Kidd listened to them as they began to tell one tale after another of Killer's doing on the ship. There were three or four more people following the first "pathetic bastard", all of them either got cut within milliseconds or were kicked into the ocean in the same amount of time. A dark shadow fell on his eyes; from what was to him ten minutes earlier a small, useless piece of the puzzle, suddenly became something big and obscure towards the mystery as a whole.

_So it's one thing after another with that guy, huh?_

He did not notice the deck falling in silence.

A moment later, a giant hand placed itself on his shoulder, and he jumped, startled. He looked to the familiar silhouette behind him.

The pirate captain stared down at him with piercing, beady eyes. "Eustass Kidd, am I right?"

He nodded.

"Come with me." And to the wordless, frozen crowd, "Continue, men. I'm only borrowing our delightful comrade for a minute."

* * *

"Go on, take a sip. It is from my own secret stash; tangerine wine from East Blue, the best of the best," Ghanga urged in an almost friendly tone.

"I don't drink," he said simply. "I don't like the taste." _Plus, I don't trust you._

The man stared at him from across the table. "Meh, whatever," he waved off. "Your miss."

Kidd shrugged.

A tension settled in the air as Ghanga poured himself a cup and gulped it down. It thickened even more when he set down the cup, looking the boy right into the eyes- a boy who was ignoring all the food in front of him with hands near his sword.

"That katana, Killer gave it to you, didn't he?"

"No one was using it," he said. _Keep talks short, and it'll end._

Ghanga smirked. "Ya know, this is the first time in years that my son took an interest in anyone. Before you, all he does are read and sleep and wander off to places without my consent. He's nearly uncontrollable, lohahaha!"

Kidd decided to not comment.

"C'mon kid, you were more fun than this during your apology ceremony," he taunted. "Say something."

_What the fuck do you want me to say?_ He bared his teeth with irritation. _You brought me here for a reason, get on with it!_ But the fucker only smirked wider as time dragged on.

"...You said before-" _Might as well as stall until he gets to the main point._ "-that you want to be the next Pirate King, right?"

The pirate crackled his annoying crackle and took a full swing from the wine bottle without pouring it into the cup this time. He set it down, eyes blazing with excitement. "Ah yes! My dream! Do you want to hear about it, little boy? What the life of the Pirate King must be like? I'll tell you everything! Hear up!"

Kidd wanted to smack the man more than ever. "Yeah," he sarcastically said through gritted teeth. "Let's hear all about that."

"Well, I guess we should begin with the first and late King of Pirate, the infamous Gol D. Roger himself!" Kidd found it hilarious as to how quick it was to get Cross Blade energized. How false was the proverb 'Like father, like son' at this moment, or at any time, if one looked into it further. "Nearly twenty-six years ago, that man came to my home island, a little patch of dirt bump above sea where some pathetic civilians built a large town on. We were pretty close to Grand Line, ya know, only about a day and a half days from Meridiano. So pirates attacked us often since we're so close, yet there wasn't a marine unit stationed there.

"_That_ man came to our island, and declared it his property."

Kidd's interest had definitely perked up. Maybe this wasn't such a bad topic after all.

"Do you know how heroic a figure he was to the town people? From the moment he placed his flag on top of our highest hill, no pirates dared to attack us anymore! It was incredible; he was our knight in armor, our god!"

Another gulp of wine.

"But those baka did not understand the true meaning of being the King of Pirates." He began to sound almost sorrowful. "Those idiots; the town people, the pirates, the Pirate King himself- back then he hadn't had that title yet, but he was powerful enough to be considered the most powerful pirate ever sailed the seas! Only two years later did he reach Raftel and conquer the Grand Line- but he did not understand what he wielded!" He slammed a fist down on the table. Now it was just pure anger. "He had power, wealth and fame all gathered within him. He had Grand Line like it was mapped on the back of his hand. He made all back off and cower in fear. Yet, he did not crush his enemy! That bastard dared to abandon all his possession and allowed himself be captured so carelessly!"

A drop of sweat rolled down from the back of Kidd's neck.

"But you know what I think that only made this worse?" Ghanga slurred, and his expression turned hideous. "I think he turned himself in, that's what!

"It has been my dream to take the title for myself the moment he stepped foot onto my island. I've long decided that the fool's too soft to be the King of Pirates. Now that he's dead, it made things a whole a lot easier for me. I've decided to find One Piece, conquer Grand Line myself, and wipe out all who oppose me! I'll be the king of not just pirates, but the world!"

_You're crazy, that's what you are._

"It's fame and fortune beyond your wildest imagination, kid, and I'll have it all!"

_No, you won't._ Kidd stared as the man took three gulps in a row, his face dark as he set it down, looking furious.

And then the pirate captain started to chuckle once again before drinking down the remainder of the tangerine wine. "Oi kid, what about you?"

"...What about me?"

"Fame, wealth, power, all in your hand. How do you feel about that?"

Kidd lifted up his head and frowned. "I have no desire for any of that. It is not the way I want to live. To tell you the truth, I don't think Roger had desired them either- maybe he only want the fun of conquering the sea because he was bored. Maybe that's why he did not care for the treasure or the power. Fame? If he could get out to the whole world of his accomplishments, that's another thing."

"Ha! No, he was just a fool," Ghanga disagreed, his eyes dangerously boring holes into Kidd's.

The two remained quiet after that, with occasional clinking of utensils against plates. Then-

_Whoosh!_

Kidd had nanoseconds to react to the sudden attack. He pulled the katana out its sheaths, and knocked the throwing stars out of their paths towards him.

A red alarm went off within him, and he stood, the sword at the man's throat. "What the hell was that?" he snarled.

Ghanga calmly ate on, a satisfied smirk on his face. "You can't kill me," he merely said. "If you do, my crew won't let you live."

"Try me!"

"Lohahaha! Killer would most likely forgive you, though," he went on.

Kidd snapped. "You tried to kill him too! I saw it! You had a dagger by his throat that night, you were going to murder him," he hissed. "He's done nothing wrong and he's your son, so you can't execute him publicly, is that right?"

"That's right." No hesitation, no denial. Ghanga looked up at him with the same insane expression from two nights ago. "I've known from the moment that Killer wanted to join me that he has no intention of helping me become the next Pirate King, even though he claimed the opposite. He hates me, yet he won't leave the crew! Why is that, I don't know. But he's going against me, and that's all that matters."

Kidd bared his teeth. He felt mad, he didn't know why, but didn't really care at the moment.

The man at his blade chuckled more as he fought back the urge of slicing his neck off. "You're perfect, you know?"

"Perfect?" he spat back.

"Yes, how about we make a deal, Kidd-san?"

"What?"

"Kill Killer for me."

He froze, eyes widened.

"Kill Killer for me, and I'll make you my vice in his place."

"You... Do you understand what you're asking?"

The captain smirked knowingly. "You hate him too, don't you? Killing him and become one of my top men and have whatever your little heart desires, that's two birds with one stone!"

_Do I hate him? Of course I hate him!_ But as soon as he thought that, his mind went blank, as if something wasn't right.

"Sorry, but I don't do other people's dirty work," he answered after minutes, withdrawing the katana. "That's why you brought me here, right? Well, I won't do it." Then he added as an afterthought. "And it doesn't matter if I hate him or not. I won't let you kill him either."

"My, my, my, he really tamed you well, didn't he? What a loyal dog."

Kidd growled, but chose to ignore the mockery. "I take that this is over?" he said, putting the sword back into its sheath.

Having no response from the man, who resumed eating, he slowly began to walk away. He did not know how he kept his posture; his whole body was stiffed at will to fight off the shiver sent by his instincts. The thoughts, while had little organization earlier, were by now flying pieces, unable to be captured and arranged. He still had to kept himself alert, and hold that sharpness until the time comes, lest Ghanga might kill him.

Throwing stars did not come, but words did.

"You were curious about Killer's face, weren't you?"

He stopped in his track, and listened, though every fiber in his body screamed 'no'.

"They're right; no one on this ship knows what he looks like." He felt the man smirk. "No one excepts me. I know exactly what he should look like."

_What he _should_ look like?_

"He used to be such a cute little boy when he was young," Ghanga continued. "A near-perfect little replica of my wife, Maria. He inherited almost everything from her; her voice, her body built, her hair and eyes, her _face_. It's a pity that he wasn't born a girl."

_A pity?_ Kidd felt bile rising up in his throat. _What would you do if he _were_ a girl? You disgusting bastard__!_

"But then he came to me six years ago with that ridiculous mask covering that beautiful face, and won't let anyone take it off; I was pretty angered, as you understand, since he hasn't taken it off even for you, has he?" The captain chuckled. "You're probably wondering why, but again, no one knows.

"You want to see his face? Then kill him, and take off his mask. It's very simple."

Kidd could stand no more.

Ghanga laughed as he watched the boy running off, and picked up from beside him a second bottle of wine- this time grape, sadly, as that tangerine bottle was his last one. He popped off the cork and took a hearty swing from it, considering the conversation a well-conducted one.

"That impudent brat, giving me so much sass and not even touching the dishes I especially have the cook prepared," he slurred, biting into the fried sardine. "Did he think I poisoned them or something?

"Heh, I've got more methods than that."

* * *

The redhead was more than ready to fly off his bat that following morning. Clean-up was not the usual; the glances everyone shot him was unbearable to the point where he had to hold himself down from screaming. Nobody approached him or said a word during breakfast, except Saru, who only met his eyes, but quickly looked away.

"Oi," he snapped in a low voice at him. "Did you guys try to listen in?"

"No, but for the captain to call you out alone is pretty... big," Saru whispered back. "What happened?"

Knowing that they didn't eavesdrop was enough for Kidd; he stalked away without answering, and jumped off the ship, doing his normal morning routine of heading to train in the forest.

That was another thing too. Killer had wanted him to learn the attack in two days- today. Was he going to be pissed.

_Who gives a fuck. What about me? I'm pissed as hell and he never cared! Why should I, then?_

Said man was waiting for him in the middle of a clearing.

"You didn't come back last night," Kidd said coldly.

"None of your business. Did you master it?"

"I told you, it's not possible!"

"If I can do it, then so can you."

"I'm not you!"

A small wave of his rigid aura engulfed the surrounding, making Kidd shut up. The boy straightened his back and challenged the aura, expecting some sort of a snap back, or maybe an attack.

"Haki," Killer said.

"...What?"

"They call it 'Haki'. It is what I want you to learn."

"What the hell is that?"

"It is a power birthed of a strong will," he explained. "Everyone has it, but only few can bring it out. You have full potential of being one of those people. You just have to get it under your control- will your will."

"You're spewing bullshit, again," Kidd retorted. "Strong will or not, you think I can come up with a way on my own?"

Killer faced directly at him. "Why don't you give it a try now? Cut a tree, but don't let the blade touch it."

"I told you-"

"_Just do it_."

Resentment and rage shot through his blood as he took the katana out, and stood facing an oak.

"Hold it right," Killer snapped.

"Shut up!" He corrected the hilt's position in his hands.

"Now concentrate, drive your strength and emotions in the attack. Let it become part of you."

_Strong emotions, strong emotions, strong emotions._ His rage answered. It swelled up inside him like a monster and flooded his mind, waking confusion and fear and a dozen other minor ones. He closed his eyes and gathered them up. _Will it into the sword._

And he swung.

A whoosh and a high-pitched cry followed his movement. He opened his eyes seconds later and stared at the tree he was aiming at.

It was still standing, unchanged, and he felt both smugness and dissatisfaction. Smug, because he told Killer it wouldn't work, and it _hadn't. _Dissatisfaction, because a small of of him had hoped it would. He looked at Killer, who was surprisingly calm. Kidd's slight grin turned upside down at that.

The answer came another five seconds later, when the tree suddenly fell.

"See, that wasn't so hard."

"Bu- but you- I- I didn't- it's you-" he stuttered, didn't even care that he was sounding like a stupefied idiot, because he _was_ stupefied. "You did something! I know you did!"

"This is the first time that someone tried to credit me for something I didn't do," Killer said dryly.

Kidd snarled at him and threw down the katana. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop making fun of me! If you want to taunt me because I'm weak, then do it to my face! Don't think pulling tricks like that is funny!"

"I'm not making fun of-"

A bloodcurdling scream cut him short, and they both stilled. Sure enough, the firing of a cannon came a moment later, and another one. At that, Killer immediately ran towards the noises, which undoubtedly came from the direction of the ship. Kidd picked up his sword and followed.

They both stopped just feet beyond the edge of the wood to witness a mass fight between the pirates and marines. Two navy blue ships with seagull sails were in close distance, firing nonstop at the pirate ship, which had already pulled up their anchor with their own cannons pointed and ready. Precisely two seconds later, the cannons went off. On the shore, two of what Kidd guessed to be marine commanders were fighting Ghanga.

"It took them over a month to send reinforcement?" Kidd said when he got over the shock.

"No," the masked man answered, taking his two scythes from his sides. "It's the new bounty poster that came out about a week ago." He turned around and faced Kidd. "I told you already, the world is a cruel and heartless place. They're not here for the people."

He frowned, but didn't argue back. "What should we do?"

"As vice-captain, it'd be suspicious on both my crew's and the marines' parts to not fight, so I'm going out there." He then said to Kidd. "_You _stay here._"_

"What? Why?"

"If the marines ask you if you're one of the Cross Blade pirates, tell them no- No, better yet, hide yourself so they don't see you."

He did not have time to demand an explanation. Killer took off at light speed, and a fraction of a second later, the head of a marine soldier rolled down the shore, and a headless body dropped.

Kidd paled- paler than he already was, if that was possible- as numerous things ran through his mind at once. This was the first time he'd seen someone getting killed like that, first time he'd seen _Killer_ killed something. Now he could see where the nickname 'Massacre Man' came from. The man gave absolutely no time for his opponent to react. It was killing with efficiency, no combat, no hesitation.

The scythes, which before had seemed to him to be awkward weapons for fighting, made sense now. They were attached by a rope each, which Killer held onto and spun with incredible speed, making them defensive as well as offensive.

He watched as the man threw one scythe towards one of the marine commander, the rope extended out- _And it covers a considerable range as well._ The rotating blade struck, and took the man's head with it; one commander down.

Throughout the fight, Kidd had back further and further away into the woods, though his eyes could not be averted from the battlefield for some reason.

He did not just observed Killer, he looked at all others. Most of them were clumsy fighters, no better than some village bullies, only more dangerous as they had better weapons. Sometimes, it took two of them to take down a marine soldier. Though that mattered not; when Killer came into the fight and took out one commander, Ghanga had abandoned the other to his son as well, and began concentrating on wiping out the lower soldiers with his men instead, which made another theory of Kidd untrue: Killer was stronger than his father.

His fists clenched as he watched.

It wasn't just the fact that he was left with the second commander; it was everything. Killer had the speed that a giant of a man like Ghanga could never hope to obtain. His techniques held the deadly agility and accuracy and destructive power that could possibly wipe out both ships of men if he wanted to.

It wasn't fear that held him back from killing his father. Yet, why? Ghanga said his son hated him.

Kidd's mood darkened, his face twisted with disgruntlement. _He loves to complicate things for me, doesn't he?_


	9. The Need of Affirmation

**Author's Note:** Thanks to_ allycat18, Stefi-chanKonaKona, doriansburial, _and _Msaju17_ for reviewing! :)

I'm extremely sorry for the late update, but I was replacing chapters because of grammar mistakes, and I accidentally deleted chapter six's document and replaced it with chapter seven instead. As of result, I had to retype chapter six instead of working on this. It was some miserable three days... So people, always, _always_ use backups! Retyping stuff is horrible! DX

This chapter contains too little content for my liking; I really planned it to be longer. But since I haven't updated in... five days... I thought that I should at least post what I did get done up. Call this a bridge chapter. This pushed a lot of things into chapter ten; making that a lot longer with all the extra scenes. I have a feeling this will work out better, anyway. :)

* * *

The fight was over and done. It left him shaking- he was so sure that they were going to lose and his entire plan would be fouled. Then, for a second, he pulled himself out of his selfishness and thought about it, _If the marines had won, then the villagers would have been saved, even though these marines were only here because of Cross Blade's bounty rise._

Honda Saru was overwhelmed with relief; relief that his plan would go on and relief that he received no injury.

But along that relief was a bigger load of uncertainty. Maybe he should have hoped the marines a win. He was so overconfident when he approached the village mayors that he did not think about the possible consequences. Ghanga might not be that big of a problem, but now that he'd seen Killer fight- and not just some minor one-on-one thing like he'd always witnessed before, how was he suppose to take them both down?

* * *

Two weeks flew by since the battle with the marines.

_Clink!_ The sound of metal hitting against each other. Kidd ground his teeth as he moved accordingly to the other's attack. The flexible blade was a pain to control even after two days of practice- not that he saw any point in mastering rapiers.

The tip flew towards him, going to strike, and he quickly brought up his own to block it, using all his force to hit to back.

The lightning-quick sword suddenly began to spin around his own, and he found himself backing away further and further, until finally, with one swift movement, Killer knocked his rapier from his hand.

Kidd's body hit a tree as the blade stopped centimeters from his drumming heart. He closed his tired eyes, panting.

"Not fast enough," Killer criticized. "And you're too on defense mode. I've told you; don't fight defensively, you'll never inflict damage on an enemy if you don't attack."

"I have to defend myself if I want my head intact!" he snapped back. "Why are we training with fencing swords anyway? Fencing isn't fighting!"

"If I'm only teaching you fencing, do you think you'll be like this?"

Kidd glared, but did not answer. Of course he knew that they were not fencing, but who would use rapiers nowadays? Katana-wielders were rare enough- though they still existed, so the first sword he understood. However, this was ridiculous, a plain waste of time.

"We're not fencing," Killer said again, as if he knew what Kidd was thinking then. "This is about speed and how you manipulate what you have." And with that, the rapier struck a split second later, giving Kidd barely any time to dodge and no time to be shocked. The boy dropped down avoided it by less than a second, and rolled himself away. The blade curved in the attack, tip touching the bark- a cut which then travelled until the other end, and the tree fell. "When fencing, this is a stabbing sword. When killing, use this as a combination of sword and whip." He flexed the blade once, and swung at Kidd, who rolled sideways just as a flash of silver missed him.

"Damn it," he hissed as the sight and sound of a falling tree filled the background, getting up on his feet. "Are you trying to kill me, bastard!"

"If you couldn't dodge that by now, then I'd know that I've wasted my time."

At that, Kidd bared his teeth, picked up his rapier, and charged. _I'll show you!_

_

* * *

_

He thought he turned eighteen somewhere around this time of the year, but he couldn't remember which date exactly. However, Kidd could always tell, because the leaves on the trees started to fall around his birthday. They called this season 'fall' even though it already had another name, 'autumn.' Kidd thought this was silly. But back on topic, it really wouldn't matter which day his birth fell on, because when winter comes around he'd know he turned eighteen.

He stared at two pirates by the edge of the ship, who were trying to drag a heavy wooden box up onto the main deck, grunting. The crew had been doing that a lot lately for some reason; this was the fourth time this week that they stored another cargo away.

From rapiers, he had moved on to sabers, a much better model of sword, in his opinion- unlike those poor excuses for male accessories, sabers were actual battle swords. Kidd touched the hilt of the saber by his side. It had been another tough two weeks.

And surprisingly, Ghanga hadn't tried to kill him once since their conversation. There could be attempts he did not know about, though the captain could've easily accused him guilty of some crime and eliminated him by then. Perhaps he didn't want to provoke Killer?

Fee collecting happened again two days ago, and once again, he hid himself in the orlop. Sure, the villagers knew, but that did not mean he was any more eager to face them.

This time, however, Saru accompanied him, muttering something on the line of "the last time I went, it was a big mistake. I used to be a civilian myself, and seeing them getting killed turned out to not be something I can handle." Kidd shrugged off his excuse and let him stayed. Saru, he decided, was nice, but a pathetic coward. He made clear of his thoughts during their talks.

The older guy had chuckled bitterly when he did. "There are many times when I wished I died with my father, but I fear death, that's why I agreed to become part of them." He looked at Kidd. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Depends on the person," Kidd grumbled back.

Saru sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I wish I was braver."

"Too late, they're already dead," he snapped.

The man's face then turned sullen. "I won't make that mistake again."

Kidd glanced at his profile, about to ask what mistake, but stopped himself. It wasn't any of his business, and there were other things to figure out at the moment.

_Such as this._ He reverted back to present. The two pirates had gotten the box successfully up,

"Are they stocking up for winter? If so, you should know that this island don't have a harsh climate. The worst it gets would be light snow," Kidd said to the man beside him.

"Ah, no," the man answered back. "We're stocking up for leaving."

His expression changed dramatically. "_What?_ It's only been two months! Don't pirates usually siege islands for longer than this?"

"Meh," he said back casually, emptying his cup of booze before going on. "I don't know what Ghanga-sama has in store for us, but everyone's been suspecting this for a while anyway."

"Suspect what?"

"Oh, you don't know? They said that this is our last island in South Blue." The man put down his cup and grinned slyly. Twinkles of excitement lighted his eyes as he talked. "The captain's been on sea for over fifteen years already; the crew started eight years ago. We've built quite a name for ourselves here since then! It's about time we head for Grand Line and show the world what we got! Hahaha!"

Kidd wiped all emotions from his face, not knowing what he'd look like if he didn't. Horror? Yes, he never thought of really leaving here, and leaving here with this bunch of scums was the last thing he had in mind. Once they sail away, he would have to be seen as one of them, their cabin boy and slave forever- or until someone beat the living shit out of Cross Blade, whichever comes first. He never knew what or how to live his life before, never really cared, but this was certainly not it!

Speaking of this island... "What will happen to here, then?"

The man snorted and snickered. "This piece of junk? Meh, we'll just perform our usual."

"Your usual?" Kidd did not like the sound of that.

"Yeah," the man said. "It's a ritual of ours. Every time we leave an island, we get to plunder all their houses and take all their values! Then we burn them down. If anyone protests, we slaughter them! Hahahaha!"

At the mention of slaughter, his mind flashed back to Shichou-san, that old man had practically begged him to save the island.

He closed his eyes. _Shit._

* * *

Another two days later, new bounty posters arrived, and Cross-Blade's bounty had risen from the 25,000,000 beri to 30,000,000.

Kidd watched with shadowed eyes from a corner as the dinner party went on in front of him. Hearing their laughter was getting on his nerves, which were already quite provoked since he heard about the new bounty value. The truth made his blood boil; over the one month of organizing his theories and thoughts, it was clearer than ever: Killer wasn't just Cross-Blade's vice and son, he _made_ Ghanga. It made perfect sense. For a captain to take credit for his underlings' doings was easy, especially if said underling kept a low profile and spared the marines little to no time to take note of him.

Of course, because of his participation, 5,000,000 beri more were tacked onto Killer's original 10,000,000 beri bounty, but that was hardly his point.

Getting restless, and at the same time, bored of all the unnecessary commotions, he took advantage of their celebrating, and shrunk away from the crowd, going up the stairs and onto the second floor. From there, he glanced down from the rail; nobody looked at him, not that he cared, but he wasn't in the mood to be questioned.

Kidd walked in front of Killer's room and knocked on the door three times.

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped inside, closing the entrance behind him, wrinkling his nose. The room smelled of old books and ink, like an old house or a library- neither he favored. "How do you know that it was me?"

Killer, who was sitting behind a desk, scribbling in a book, answered. "I guessed."

"Hmph."

He scanned the room with the dark look still on his face. The room was filled with what it smelled like- books and ink bottles, but mostly books that were neatly categorized on the two huge shelves by opposite walls. His eyes twitched at the sight of them; nobody ever knew, but he _hated_ schooling with a passion, having to be made to attend classes when he was younger by the village mayor and his parents, who'd done everything they could to get him out of the house and away from them, only to be kicked out after a year because the students and the teacher were scared shitless of him. Thus, he hated books and everything to do with them.

Kidd walked over to a shelf and ripped a hardcover out, then looked over at the masked man, who didn't even react to his personal belonging being touched. Somehow, it pissed him off that Killer wasn't pissed off.

He pushed the pointless anger away and looked at the cover, staring at it for some time before the letters managed to register themselves into his mind_._

_Dr...Drugs... and Her...bs, and what the hell is that two dots after that? ...Never mind. Judging by these two words, this must be a medical book of some sort._

"I thought this ship already has a doctor," he said, putting the book back. "Why are you interested in this?"

"'Drugs and Herbs: Preservers of Health'," Killer retorted. "It took you ten minutes to read a book cover?"

A vein popped on his head that instance, and he hissed, but that could hardly be argued, since he hadn't even finished reading the title. "Just answer my damn question! Why do you have a medical book?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

_Because you're 'Massacre Man'! You cut people up!_

But he didn't shout that out, instead, he shot the man a glare and began letting his eyes wander elsewhere. Not that there were much to look at. Other than the shelves and books- and ink bottles-, the desk with writing utensils and papers, the chair, a single lamp and the bed, the room was voided of everything. What a plain place. Did vice-captains live like this usually?

"What do you want?" Killer asked as he put away his book and feather quill.

"What were you writing?"

A few seconds of wordless moments as the room went slightly colder. Killer must be ticked.

Kidd sneered smugly in his head._ Good._

"If you're here because you're bored, then get out," he snapped.

Now he was ticked. _Fine._ He set aside his agitation, and reluctantly began to tell what was on his mind.

"A couple days ago," Kidd started. "Someone told me that the crew is heading for Grand Line, and this island was their last stop. They said that they'll plunder the inhabitants of all valuables and burn down the houses. Is that true?"

Killer folded his hands and crossed his fingers together, and Kidd immediately spotted the main emotion there, even though his voice was stoic and a mask covered his face. Tense air began to surround the masked man. Kidd smirked to himself when spotting this. Somebody needed to tell Killer how to control his body postures, because even with all those hidden, it still wasn't working in hiding everything.

Kidd read, 'worried'.

"Yes."

"If I told you that I won't let them do it, what will you do?"

There was no response.

"Would you kill me for betrayal?" he asked. _Though, I made it clear that I refuse to be part of this crew._

"Are you going to fight for your people?"

Kidd chuckled. Trust that man to send a tough question right back at him. Was he? He did not want to, yet he felt as if he shouldn't leave them suffering at the same time. Then, there was always Shichou-san's talk. That old man was right, he may not care for the adults, but children were a different story. _Though, the guy from two mornings ago did tell me that they won't kill anyone if nobody went against them. However, survival is hard when your land is robbed of everything. The villagers would have to leave this place if that's the case._

"I really don't know," he answered.

The Killer said, "I will not kill you, but I will stop you because it's too soon."

He narrowed his eyes. "Too soon? For what?"

"You're not strong enough."

"What does that have to do with anything?" he snapped. This sounded more and more like conversations they had before; it brought him back to the same kind of rage.

"You're yet strong enough to stand up to Cross Blade."

_I'm..._ Kidd's hands balled into fists. "Then why don't _you_ kill him?" he snarled. "_You're_ stronger than him, and he tried to kill you too! Why are you waiting for me to do the job?"

Killer got up from the chair and began going through the shelves, pulling out books as he passed them. The boy watched him, impatiently waiting. "It has to be you," he finally answered.

"And you're not telling me why either, am I right?" Kidd said glacially.

"Right," the man said, opening up the book and arranged them on his desk. Kidd stood there, dissatisfied, yet said nothing. Pursuing an explanation was beyond hopeless; he'd learned that by now. "And as for this island, do what you want. Just keep yourself alive so I did not waste my time. Now, if you have anything else to say, say it, or leave. I'm busy."

Kidd stared at him with sharp eyes for moments as the man ignored him. Minutes passed between them before he slowly backed out of the room.

He looked down from the rail at the celebrating men and the captain with the vulgar laugh.

He did not get everything he wanted. That was fine. But he got the affirmation from Killer, and for now, that was all he needed.


	10. Party Poopers

**Author's Note:** Thanks for _Msaju17_ and _allycat18_ for reviewing, even though last chapter wasn't much. :)

Now this chapter, however, is a little too much. I only got three-quarters of what I wanted done here, and it still built up to over 6,500 words, so I had to stop and leave the rest for next chapter. Originally, this would've been just one chapter exceeding what I had planned for this arc- a total of ten chapters, but now it looks like it's going to take twelve. Oh well. XD

* * *

Clank! The blades clashed together in an even hit. Kidd felt Killer pushed, and quickly jumped out of the way as the saber came crashing down on where he was standing before.

"Repeat," the Massacre Man said.

Kidd pushed his heel against the ground and took off at his opponent once again. "Gol D. Roger, King of Pirates, deceased. Silvers Rayleigh the Dark King, first mate of Roger, missing, power unknown." Clank! "Marc D. Ante the Hell Kaiser, power unknown and missing. Shiki the Golden Lion, first escapee of Impel Down. Power and whereabouts unknown as well. The first Yonkou: Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate, the strongest man in the world. His crew branches into divisions of fifteen at the least, and is allied with more than thirty pirate crews of the New World." Clank! "Division commanders: Marco the Phoenix, Portgas D. 'Fire Fist' Ace, 'Diamond' Jozu, 'Flower Sword' Vista, Atmos the Water Buffalo-" Killer's sword swung at his head and he lifted his own, knocking it aside and slammed the man in the chest.

Killer stumbled back as Kidd grinned at this. "Good," the blond said as soon as he recovered balance, casting away his saber and picked up a spear. "Continue."

"'Red Hair' Shanks, Kaidou and Big Mom are the other three." He held his saber to its side as the heavy stick crashed down on him.

"What of them?"

He grimaced, and turned his blade and slashed, cutting the spear into halves, before jumping left. "I... don't remember," he replied.

A moment of cold silence passed before Killer reacted. Then the man threw the wooden end at him. He knocked it away, feeling the blade rattle at the contact and knew that if the wood had hit him, his skull could have been smashed by the sheer force. The relief lasted not long as the bladed end came for him as well, and he hit that away. "The Shichibukai then?" The masked man asked, taking the katana by the weapon-decorated tree from its sheath, and met Kidd's saber again.

"Juracule 'Hawk Eyes' Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world. His sword is a two handed blade call Kokutou Yoru or the 'Black Sword'." Clank, clank! "He doesn't have a crew he belongs to or lead, but allies with pirates and has known to have steady contacts with Red Hair." A dodge. "Jimbei, nicknamed 'Knight of the Sea'. He was the second captain of the Sunny Pirates after Fisher Tiger until the crew disbanded. He's a whale shark Fishman," A jump, "and allied with Whitebeard. Sir Crocodile, not much is known about him."

He hissed with pain as the katana made a tiny cut on his arm. "Donquixote Doflamingo, former captain of the Bellamy pirates. Bartholomew Kuma the Tyrant, known for his extreme cruelty and former service under Dragon the Revolutionary."

Kidd stopped to catch his breath.

"There is no time to spare in a fight!" Saber clashed with katana as Killer brought down his sword and crossed them at the hilt, holding them both in a stalemate position. "Two more to go, and then you have the marines, along with miscellaneous big games in the New World."

The boy struggled against him. "How the hell am I suppose to memorize all of them?" he defended.

"You _should_, these are enemies."

A dark look fell on his face. "I told you," he snarled, pushing harder. "I won't go with you bunch of shitheads to Grand Line!" And swung, sparks of red flew at the friction of the steels.

The stalemate broke as Killer flew back. Both swords were chipped where they touched, the chip cracked across the metal loudly, and the rest of the blade detached.

Kidd stood, huffing heavily as the masked man stopped his involuntary movement with the heels of his feet. He could hear the man smirk from twenty feet away as the metal fell on the ground with soft clinks.

"Not bad at all," said Killer, tossing away the useless hilt in his hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the other side of the forest near civilization, a tiny straw hut stood, surrounded by a cluster of maple trees. There was only one window, and an opening covered with a piece of rag for door. Inside, a crystal cross hung from the ceiling, sparkling as sunlight beamed into it, shining rainbow streaks in shadowed areas inside.

"What is this place?" Saru asked, looking around the primitive, dust-covered, one-roomed interior as the four other village leaders followed the first one in.

Akio, the mayor of Kidd's village, lit the single candle inside, and sat on a dirty mat. The young man noticed that there were four others, and each of the elders took their seat on one. This must be, he decided, a secret meeting quarter. But what was with all this strange ornament? The cross, the garlic hanging on the wall, even the books were in some sort of strange language. And there was a black cloak on a small stand with a stone staff leaning beside it. Slowly but nervously, he sat down.

"This is the soothsayer's hut. He preferred to live far from people, and only came to our villages occasionally for ceremonious blessings and food shopping," the only old woman in the group droned. "He passed away years ago."

"I see," Saru said, remembering the story about the soothsayer and Kidd. That explained the weirdness of this hut.

"We've told the islanders of Cross Blade's plans for us, and of your plans as you've asked of us," the one named Teijo said. "They unanimously agreed. Everyone is preparing for the overthrow at your signal."

The young man nodded.

"However, we still do not have a clear idea of when."

"My prediction is right before winter," he answered. "That's when they'll probably leave."

The elder hummed with approval.

All was quiet until another spoke up. "I don't trust this." Saru turned to the speaker, a hunchback with a ring of hair on the side of his nearly-bald head. "What if we all get kill in process?"

"Shichou-san, this won't be an honored fight where they know about us. By pirate routine, I'm most certain that they'll have a grand celebration right before they enforce their... plundering. While taking them on then would be the most effective, as we'll have the element of surprise on our side. I know 'Cross Blade' Ghanga's person well. He's the kind of pirate captain who tends to overestimate his own ability. We'll never be suspected if our plans carry out right," Saru assured in a confident tone.

He would have felt confident too, had it not been the constant reminder of Killer.

_Kidd_, he then thought. _Can I turn Kidd-san against him? He hates the Massacre Man, and no doubt would he want his freedom too._

_He would have to leave afterward, though. This island is no longer for him._

_And there was the matter of him even cooperating with me in the first place. I haven't even asked him yet, but there is a great possibility that he'd say no and leak my plan to Killer-sam- no, Killer. I have no idea where his loyalty lies. _He narrowed his eyes, debating. _Judging by his personality, Kidd-san is the kind of character who acts irrationally on instincts and anger. The best way to sway him to my side would be during the actual battle, where he'd have to pick a side to fight on in the mist of confusion._

"Saru," Akio cut in. "You seem trouble."

He snapped back to reality. "Sorry, do I?"

They stared at him, as if waiting for an explanation.

"...I was merely thinking of what I've heard about the boy called Eustass Kidd," he lied, and smiled. "This was the house of the soothsayer who called him a child of the devil, right?"

And they all flinched, refused to look him in the eyes. One shook his head and said, "Don't wonder anymore."

Saru lowered his head. _How easy is it to get them off my back with just a mention of Kidd-san._

He let himself to observe the things in the simple hut once again. A disturbance caught his attention. "Then," he began. "Is it safe for me to ask whether or not have any of you touched the soothsayer's belongings?"

"No, we left everything as it was the day he died. Why?" the woman asked.

He frowned.

There was a stack of books by a small table, a stack of books that _should_ have been like everything else, dust-covered and untouched, except they weren't. In fact, now that he paid more attention, it wasn't just those books. Part of the staff were free of the thick dust layer as well, and the dull cloak had deeper streaks of black made by finger touches, with some more recent than others. The newest couldn't have been older than three days. Someone had been here before them multiple times, and it couldn't have been any trouble-making rascals, who'd wreck the place. The intruder was careful.

Who'd come to a hut like this?

Saru's eyes widened as a memory replayed itself in his mind. It had been a normal moment, happened only how long ago? Two weeks?

_Kidd looked at him with a sulking face. "Have you seen Killer?"_

_"N-No..." he answered, and then remembered spotting the vice-captain earlier."Actually, yes. I saw him heading for the other side of the island right before noon. He hasn't gotten back yet as far as I know."_

"Saru?"

"...It's nothing."

* * *

Eustass Kidd scarred the wooden deck with the metal scrubs as someone hopped on a spot that he'd just cleaned not a minute ago, sneered at him, and gleefully climbed down from the ship onto shore. Another pounded him on the back and rubbed his dirty feet in a water puddle as he went by.

"Clean the whole ship good, Cabin boy!" the man hollered, even though he was feet away from the seething boy, who was by then more than ready to beat someone up with his mop. Crackling with laughter, that other bastard too, ran off. Kidd glared at him and turned his head upwards towards Honda, who was scrubbing the upper deck, and bitterly wondered why nobody was stepping on _his_ floor.

Two more ran by with barrels of booze. Some of the alcohol-filled liquid splashed into the water bucket.

"Oi, bastards, do that again and I'm beat the living shit out of you!" he screamed at the fat man who was carrying the leaking booze. He and his mate burst out laughing at this, and carelessly headed off as well, leaving a trail of purple behind them. Kidd's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to refrain from picking up the water and dropping it on their heads as they were on their ways down.

He settled for scrubbing a spot of the deck raw instead.

Saru walked down the small flight of stairs between the two decks and-

"Hey, don't step on that!" Kidd snapped, just as he put his foot down. "Now look at it!"

"Sor- sorry..."

"Why aren't you cleaning your part?" the boy angrily went on.

"But I'm done," Saru replied.

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead hearing this. "Done? You're _done_ already? How come I'm not done?"

The sandy-haired man sweat-dropped at the childish question. "Obviously because you're too slow," he muttered, scratching his head. "I even got the bigger deck and I finished before you-"

"Shut up!" Kidd shouted. "Since you've clean the upper deck, clean this one too!"

"Well, I've got other-"

"CLEAN IT!" He caught the flying mop before it could make a hole in the floor, and watched as the boy stormed off the ship.

Saru frowned. No matter how he looked at Kidd, all he could see was a selfish child who was used to getting his own ways. Hardly a devil.

* * *

_The most beautiful woman in the world?_ He sneered at a poster of Boa Hancock the Pirate Empress. It was a well-taken picture of her, and he had to admit that she was no doubt the most gorgeous being he'd ever seen, but something about this bitch just pulled him off. She was staring straight into the camera with a snotty look, as if she was better than everyone else. He did not like that. _The fact that I'm made to _read _about her isn't doing much good for my opinion of her either._

He held the poster beside the lit candle, growling with annoyance as the shadow of his hands kept getting in the way. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this in the orlop, but trying to study outside would only gain unwanted attention.

_Now let me see... One, two, three, four, five... That's seven zeros with an eight, which will make this... eight million? ...No, that doesn't make sense, since Killer's worth fifteen million... Eighty millions then?_ Kidd looked back and forth between his two hands with confusion- the left holding up three fingers, the right holding all five. Somehow he thought that they would help him, but now he wondered why he had them up in the first place.

_Screw this! Eighty million it is! Not like it matter anyway, she's a Shichibukai, the amount isn't even in effect._

He snatched up the poster and began trying to read the description under Hancock's name.

_The sn-sna...ke prin...ce- cess of Am- az... Amaz- Amazing? Amazing Lily? _He snorted. _Who the hell would name their country 'Amazing Lily'?_

_Tho... ough a pri-va-te-er for... her tri... tribe, the Pi- rate Em.. Em...press is an en- emy of the Wo... World Gov.. ern... ment, ... have... have... ving, inflic-ted ma... massive dam-age ag-ainst ma... marines._

The door burst opened.

Kidd crumpled up the paper in his hand and gathered up the pile of posters as well, looking behind him. Two men grinned at him, and he sneered back as they walked past by.

"You're not attending the party, Cabin boy?" one said. "Geez, you're really not that much fun anymore!"

He scorned at the guy. "Party? Didn't you guys just have one? What is it for this time?"

The two of them rolled a large beer barrel of the door. "For our departure, of course! We're slaughtering some kids tonight, _Kidd-chan!_" And they howled with laughter as they left.

Kidd would've thought about ripping their head off had he not registered what they said.

_Departure? But it's not even winter yet!_

He put down the handful of bounty posters and ran out of the orlop, speeding passed the two underlings and looked down below the rail of the ship. Now he knew why he heard no sound of the celebration and why the decks were so quiet. They were all down ashore, trashing the beach. The big clean-up this morning and all the pirates carrying booze from the ship all made sense now, though he did not really wondered about all that.

_I should have paid more attention! Damn you, Cross Blade! I promised the mayor that I'd kill you, and I'm not ready to take your entire fucking crew on!_

"Outta our ways, Cabin boy!" the two from before shouted, and Kidd dodged in time for them to jump over his head and off the ship.

_I should go as well,_ he decided. _Where's my sword?_

* * *

Quill scratched against paper; the writer completely disregarded the clamor outside as he copied character after character of the alien text. Behind his mask were a pair of blazing eyes and an amused grin as he finished the last stroke, and closed the book.

Killer turned the leather-bounded rectangular-prism object in his hand, and then settled it down beside the four others he'd stolen from the straw hut.

It was no wonder this soothsayer lived in secrecy, having such treasures like this. The scholars of Ohara would kill for a look at them.

"Not that any of them are alive to," he muttered out loud, remembering reading an old news-clip about a bunch of archeologists on the island turning again the World Government while researching on ancient artifacts once in the library when he had been younger. It was only a two-liner amongst all other events in the paper, but he remembered it well. Strangely, the same island wasn't on the following edition of West Blue maps. Though he never learned what really happened, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together to get four.

But he frowned a moment later._ No, wait, There is one Demon of Ohara that's still alive, isn't there? Her name is Nico Robin right?_

"Hmph," He closed his eyes and smirked, "Maybe if we cross path someday, I'll let her have a peek. Entire books written in the language of poneglyphs, I wish I can read them."

What a wonder that soothsayer wasn't hunted down and killed.

"-I AM YOUR CAPTAIN AND YOU'RE TO OBEY EVERY ORDER OF MINE! NOW GET KILLER OUT OF THERE OR DIE!"

At this, the Massacre Man narrowed his eyes and got up from his chair.

* * *

Even though the cook skipped lunch and he'd been starving the whole day, Kidd was in no mood to eat as the pirates rushed by him one by one with their cups and chicken drumsticks at hands, telling himself not to panic.

_And I thought this was trivial matters before. Now what do I do?_ He looked around for some sort of familiarity, but found none. _What about Honda? I haven't seen him at all. Of course, Killer's not here._

He ignored the commotion of the pirates gathering around their captain, and only the complete silence a moment later did he realize what was going on. Then, like everyone else sitting, he took a seat on the floor Indian style and took a cup of beer from the table beside him; he needed something to grip on.

"So this is it huh?" he mumbled, scowling.

Ghanga stood in the middle of all attention.

"Men!" he boomed with a delirious grin stretching from ear to ear. "This is it!

"For the last eight years, we Cross Blade pirates have dominated South Blue. Marines cower before us or die trying to capture us! Islands fell under our reign! Our rivals flee at the sight of our flag! WE ARE THE MOST FEARED PIRATES OF SOUTH BLUE!"

"AY!" cries of approval rang through the entranced audience as they lifted up their drinks.

_Can he get any more narcissistic?_ Kidd felt like vomiting.

"For years I've labored and fought for the top! Now that we're here, South Blue is no longer worthy of a challenge! With our might and power, I've decided to head for Grand Line and show the world just how strong we are! The Cross Blade pirate crew is the crew of the future King of Pirates, AND I AM THAT KING OF PIRATES! OBJECTIONS?"

There appeared to be one. "But isn't Grand Line known as the pirates' graveyard?" the man shouted, looking saner than the rest- in another words, very frightened.

Ghanga's wide grin flattened. "Hm?"

The man stilled as he did so, but continued. "The tales of Grand Line I've heard are nightmares! The strongest of marines are all stationed there, not to mention all the top rookie pirates! Sencho-sama, we might all die-" _Struck!_ The man's eyes grew wide as the sword penetrated his chest, and Kidd watched, alarmed, as he fell down, never getting the chance to finish his sentence.

_Hearing their objections? He was looking for someone to set an example of. _Kidd thought darkly. _That idiot shouldn't have protested._

"Cowards do not deserve to live under my rule," the pirate captain said venomously, eyes scanning the shocked crowd. "Anyone else?"

Everyone was silent.

The grin came back on, and Kidd felt the tensed air lifting as Cross Blade threw his cup into the air and issued the finale of his speech. "DRINK UP! DRINK UP! TONIGHT WE'LL SLAUGHTER!"

"AY AY, CAPTAIN!" the rest of them chorused.

"Lohahaha! I'm so pumped," Ghanga laughed as he collapsed back into his chair. "I've been waiting for this day for over twenty years! Lohahaha!"

Kidd ignored him as a good portion of the men laughed with their captain. This wasn't going well for him at all. They'd drink, but they'd be sober or at least conscious enough to kill off everyone on this island, and he couldn't have that. He'd been training for so long that taking down the weaklings of the crew shouldn't be a problem for him at all. But Cross Blade was another matter. And would Killer go against him too? Kidd looked down at his reflection in the purple liquid.

No, that bastard claimed he wouldn't, claimed that he was waiting for the time to come for Kidd to grow stronger than Ghanga. He even told Kidd to do what he wanted.

_Damn it! He should've promised to help me! That's what I should've made him do!_

He squeezed the handle of the cup with anger.

_Why didn't he want to help me?_

_Wait, he said to do whatever I want, as long as I come out alive in the end._

_The real question will be if he'd save me from death himself. If he would, getting him to help me will-_

"Eh? Killer's not out here yet?"

"N- No, Sencho."

"Hmph, I told him that tonight is our big night. How dare he not show his face." Kidd's ears perked up at this. "Where is that boy?"

"Killer-sama is in his room, Ghanga-sama," the underling answered.

"Then get him out," Cross Blade snapped. "I want to see my son! That insolent brat thinks he can disobey me just because he's my flesh and blood? Get him out!"

The underling began to tremble. "Bu- But, Ghanga-sama, K-Killer-sama's rule... We're not allowed near his room, he'll kill us without hesitation if we go! It'd- It'd be the best if- if you get him yourself- AH!" He screamed. "I'm- I'm sorry! I'll- I'll-" The next phrase he spoke made Kidd's blood run cold. "CABIN BOY! He won't kill the Cabin boy!"

Said 'Cabin boy' broke the handle of his cup as Ghanga dropped the terrified man, and all attention turned to him.

"That's right," he slurred, looking directly at the redhead. "Kidd-san. You go get Killer."

The boy pretended to take a sip, hearing the pirates becoming more and more excited. He knew what they were all thinking; Cabin boy couldn't be going up against the captain now, could he?

"Oi," Cross Blade said, this time rougher.

He set down his cup. "If he wants to come out, he'd do so already."

And their smirks grew wider. No doubt that there will be some bloodshed.

"Are you disobeying me, _Cabin boy_?"

It was quiet for a moment as Kidd debated in his head for a response. This way would be the best to go. Killer said that rage was blindness, didn't he? Well, picking a fight with Ghanga until he snapped, wouldn't it be the most effective?

Yes, it wasn't a well thought out plan, but he could go with that. The rest of the crew he would have to take care of later.

"Killer told me from the beginning that I was to serve as Cabin boy," he started, and looked into the man's eyes, which was getting more enraged by the second. "But he also told me that I'm to take his order above everyone else's, yours included." He smugly took another fake sip. "And since he has no intention of coming out of his room, your words are invalid." By the time he finished, Cross Blades face was an interesting shade of red.

"Take his order above everyone else's? Mine included?" the reddened man echoed. "DON'T SCREW WITH ME, BRAT! I AM YOUR CAPTAIN AND YOU'RE TO OBEY EVERY ORDER OF MINE! NOW GET KILLER OUT OF THERE OR DIE!"

He pulled his saber from out of its sheath with lightning speed and knocked the flying daggers out of their ways. _Shit, did I go too far?_

_No, the objective _is _to get him this way._

Seeing Kidd still not submitting to his demand, the captain's blood was now boiling. "Get him!"

_Damn it_, the boy swore to himself as nearly ten swords crashed down on his at the same time, and he struggled to hold his end. _I should've learned two-sword style._

"You've been training under Killer-sama, haven't you?" one of them said, eyes glistening with something close to insanity as he pushed harder. "That's too bad. Being favored by Vice Captain really strokes that little ego of yours. You shouldn't have tried to pick a fight with us!"

Now _he_ was getting pissed. "But I'm still capable of beating the shit out of you!" And with a burst of adrenaline, he moved his sword, breaking all the blades at once. The attackers all watched in surprise as their swords broke apart, and did not have time to react to the boy's kicks and punches.

The first swing went for the man to his most left. His fist came in contact with that bastard's jaw, and anyone hearing the crackling of bone could be sure that the man would remain toothless for the remainder of his life. The second aim sent its target shooting backwards into the forest, finally hitting a tree. Kidd snarled, put away his saber, and crackled his knuckles.

Ghanga's anger was subsided by astonishment as his men were being sent flying some twenty feet into the air. Where? Where did all that monstrous strength come from? No, never mind. As quickly as it went, it flooded back to him, stronger than ever as the screaming of his crew went on. His little finger tugged the string hidden in his sleeves causing three throwing stars to fall out, and he caught them, his facial expression growing uglier and uglier-

"Quiet."

The single word, spoken so harshly and imperatively in a low voice that sounded like a whisper, felt like a blow. The fighting stopped.

"Ki- Killer-sama?" one of the men on the ground stuttered. Kidd murderously glared at him and kicked his guts, and the man made a strangling sound.

"Kidd."

The boy bared his teeth and turned the glare upwards toward the masked man.

_Why the hell did you come out? I had this under control! Don't ruin my fucking plan!_

"You missed my grand speech, Killer," Cross Blade grunted.

"I have other things to do," Killer said, jumped down from the ship.

A vein popped on the captain's forehead. "Such as?"

"Reading."

A growl. "Get your priorities straight."

No answer.

Slowly, they resumed to the party, though the atmosphere was definitely not how it had been before. The ones who recovered from the fight recovered, some staring at Kidd with fear, some with hatred, and some not daring to look at all. There were a couple of them picking up their weapons, advancing towards the boy, but was instantly held back by others. Within minutes, everything went back as normal it could get.

Kidd plopped himself down on a chair, scowling at anyone who dared to come any closer to him than his liking, not that anyone really tried, and this time took a sip of the booze for real, being thirsty as hell by now. He ignored the horrible taste going down his throat and the sudden lightheadedness.

"I heard you call," Killer said, sitting down. "What do you want?"

"Do I need a reason?" the father snapped back. "This is our departing celebration. Everyone should be here, and that's _everyone_, including _you_, my _son_." Sarcasm dripping like water from the last word.

"This is boring and a waste of our supplies."

Kidd saw Cross Blade's expression twitched at the indifference response. Then, the pirate captain smirked. He narrowed his eyes seeing that, and wondered just what the hell Ghanga was up to.

"Then why don't you make it more interesting, Killer?" He got up from his seat, under the watchful and curious eyes of many, and went to the nearest food table and took a plate. Moments later, he returned by the masked man's side, and held the plate in front of him. "Eat, but first, you need to take off your mask, right?"

And for the third time that evening, everything went silent. Killer did not move. "No," he simply answered.

The plate came closer. "My beloved child," the tone was anything but lovingly. "You can't not be hungry. Take off your mask and eat."

"I will later."

"No, you will now."

Kidd watched as Killer turned his head towards his father, and repeated in a colder voice, "I will _later._"

He glanced around; everyone was holding his breath.

_Are you serious, Killer?_

And that didn't even need to be answered as Ghanga took out a knife and held it by the masked man's throat. Kidd's mouth opened slightly with shock, and beside him, glasses and cups fell out of several people's grips.

_Is he really planning to kill him now?_

_He said that Killer never intends to make him Pirate King, is this his way of finding an excuse to finish him off?_

"This is the only idea of an entertainment you can come up with?" Killer commented stoically. "It's not very amusing."

Cross-Blade sneered, "No, I've been planning to do this for quite some times now. I'm sure you know, my dear boy."

"Is Sencho-sama acting?" someone to the right of Kidd whispered, frightened. "When did this start? Killer-sama's his son. The Massacre Man stood by his side for almost six years!"

They grew more and more weary and shaken as a dangerous, rigid air suddenly overtook the beach. The tensed boy closed his hand around the hilt of his sword when it happened, waiting for a fight to break out-

And flinched as someone fainted.

He turned around and stared at the man knocked out on the ground with confusion; nobody else was bewildered about it. He wondered why.

Then another one.

"It's _that_!"

_What's 'that'?_

Another man dropped, and another, and another...

_Is this Killer's doing? Are they dying?_

And the air was gone.

The ones left standing- a great many, since only about ten had fainted- were might as well be statues. They looked at each other, fearful, and undecided what to do. The father and son remained as they were minute ago- Ghanga's blazing eyes glaring down as Killer's mask faced his front.

"I refuse," the blond finally said, and tilted his head upwards. "You don't deserve to see her."

_'Her'? Is he talking about his mother?_

"You don't decide what I deserve and what I don't!" Cross-Blade screeched. "I will simply kill you and take your mask off myself!"

Kidd's heart jumped as the Killer knocked the knife out of the moving hand and elbowed the larger man in the stomach. The chair he sat on fell to the side and broke in pieces. Cross-Blade was sent stumbling back, but recovered quickly seconds later, and looked up at the standing Massacre Man with a beast-like snarl.

All hell broke loose.

"Gah! They're fighting! They're really slaughtering each other!" one pirate screeched, trembling with widened eyes and he glanced frantically around him, as if looking for help. Pretty soon, the rest of them were doing the same.

"Let's run, we're not going live if we get in their way!"

"Run! Run!"

"But we're supposed to raid the villages tonight!"

"Forget that, baka! You want to die?"

Somebody screamed as a throwing star struck a runaway in the back of his head, and they stopped as he fell down, dead, then all looked over to their furious captain.

"NOBODY IS LEAVING!" he roared.

_Then what they hell do you want them to do?_ Kidd gritted his teeth and gripped the hilt of his saber for comfort. _Forget those shitheads! What about me? What am I to do? Should I help Killer?_

He knew the answer soon enough. "KILL THE TRAITORS!" Cross Blades howled, and the redhead did not miss the plural indication of more than one traitors. "KILL THAT CABIN BOY!"

_Fuck!_

* * *

This time, they were for real.

Kidd kicked one away and knocked a club of out its owner's hands, but they just kept coming like an army of ants. He had been right to think that they were weak, but there were so many of them! He looked from right to left as they gathered into a circle around him, trying to find the weakest place in the ring to break out of. That really didn't work- most of them were taller than him, so he couldn't see above their heads.

The pirates began to snicker.

"Get him!" one screamed, and the ones in front of him charged.

_Shit! I really meant that I'm able to kick their asses _one _at a time__!_ He swung his sword to meet their attacks, the blow beat down three of them, but that was enough for the rest of them to execute their hits. He hissed with pain as blades cut his arms and legs, and nearly screamed when one made a shallow strike against his chest. In return, he could only deliver as many blind slashes as he could with punches and kicks, not very much facing such a large group of pirates. Five swords clashed down on him, and he barely reacted in time, holding their might down with the flat side of his saber.

The roaring behind him made him realize his mistake. Kidd turned around with horror as the back group ran towards him- and a foot kicked him down the moment he got distracted.

His saber fell out of his hand as he slipped from the kick, and his face hit the sand.

_No way! SHIT!_ he swore as he coughed out blood and sand, moments later looking up just in time to see-

Their heads popped off of their bodies, which ran for another few seconds headlessly. Surviviors screamed with terror in their eyes as their comrades fell one by one beside them, their minds completely off their goal. Blood splattered down on him, and he looked behind as well to see three standing men without their heads, and one only having three-quarter of it. He was rendered speechless, paralyzed by the sight.

"Kidd!" Killer's voice was awfully close. "What the hell are you doing? Get up!"

He quickly snapped alert, snatched his sword and ran away from the falling bodies. He turned to look at Killer.

"They- They're-"

"You were hesitating," the Massacre Man snapped.

He flinched.

"You don't hesitate when it comes to enemies! Just harming them and knocking them out won't be enough! Kill them! I've taught you how to kill, do it!"

His lips went white at the command.

"It's survival, brat. It's either you or them, so kill them before they can kill you!"

Beyond Killer's screaming, he heard a whoosh, and on instinct his swung his sword towards the direction of the sound, knocking three daggers out of the air. The fourth one struck Killer on the shoulder.

The masked man lurched forward at the impact.

"Don't think you can run away from me!" Cross Blades shouted, warming-up the twin swords in his hands and charged for them. Kidd pulled the dagger from Killer's back and threw it back at the original owner, who knocked it out of the way. That one second was all he needed to create a violent gush and sent the pirate captain reeling back with agony.

He coughed out blood, and shivered as the wind blew at his back, reminding him of the blood there as well. His raw wounds were aching. But that didn't matter. One-on-one combat, the scenario was perfect for what he had been trained for. Cross Blades was weaker than his son, wasn't he? _Maybe this will be easier than I thought._

"Oi Killer, you're alive?" he called, and glanced to his side. Blood were dripping out from the bottom of the helmet mask, but the man was still standing.

"Like hell can I be killed by something like that."

"Good." Kidd gripped his sword. "And just so you know, I'm going to kill your father. Take care of the weak ones, all right? They're more your style."

"You'll died," Killer said flatly, boiling up irritation within the boy, who glared at him.

"Have some faith in me, will ya?" he spat.

"Hmph."

He took that as a 'yes'.


	11. Fortunate Fouling

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17, allycat18,_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing! Sorry I was late with this. I had a big exam and was totally stressing about it. I got it over yesterday, so life is back to normal now. And it seems like I'm starting up a pattern for chapters- this is only three thousand-something words, and the next one is no doubt going to be more than 5,000. XD

Nothing to do with the story, but all of you, go and see Inglourious Basterds right now! It was freakin' crazy, yet amazing at the same time! O_O

* * *

Kidd let his growing rage backed him. It wasn't a hard thing; once the fear wore off, staring so long at the despicable pirate captain was enough to get his aggression going. He waited as Cross Blades picked himself up, ignoring the background sound of Killer slaughtering one man after another- the masked man seemed to be taking his time to play with the preys.

"You little piece of shit," the pirate captain hissed as he stood up.

"Bet that took you by surprise, huh?" he sneered back. "Still planning to head for Grand Line when you got beat up by a mere cabin boy? Maybe you're too old for pirating, old geezer."

Upon hearing these words, Cross Blades' pupils became so small that they almost vanished from sight, and the man snarled like a beast and charged at him, four knifes in each hand between the fingers. Red sparks flew as the many blades hit against Kidd's sword, and he felt himself being pushed further and further backwards. He abruptly rotated his blade, breaking the tie and butted his head against the other's bleeding stomach.

Kidd grimaced as the enemy's blood soaked his red hair, but satisfied as he watched the man stumbling back with pain.

_This is it? No, it's too easy,_ he thought suspiciously, and then picked up his sword and ran, this time preparing an all out attack instead of waiting. To harm the enemy, one needed to go offensive, wasn't that what Killer said? _Easy or not, I'll take it for what it is!_

_Die, bastard!_ He swung the saber over his head and brought it down at the large man with wide eyes, missing the smirk formed half a second later.

The half second later passed, and he froze in mid-swing as coldness penetrated his abdomen, and slowly looked down to see a sword impaled in his stomach. It probably went through his body. The blade pulled away. Another second passed, and the area around the newly formed hole began to bleed, the redness drenched his clothes. It hurt. It _hurt_!

"That was a direct puncture of a vital organ," Cross Blades slurred. "The liver, perhaps..."

Kidd opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

"You've been lucky so far, but how long do you think you can live with a damaged liver?"

_Push it away. Push it away. You don't have to feel it,_ he commanded himself as the wound throbbed. _There is _no_ pain. _Little by little, he turned his attention from the agony, and gulped back a mouthful of blood, choking on it. He wobbled on his feet as if about to fall, but stomp down a firm foot, dug his saber into the sand for support, and looked up at Cross Blades. _I have to kill him first, like I told killer I would!_

"I think..." he croaked, finally able to speak. The smug grin faded from the man's face. "You missed... Hehe." He coughed out blood. "Too bad. I think that I'm going to live a hell a lot longer than you will!"

"Cheeky brat!"

Kidd dodged as knives flew his way, and blocked the heavy sword that was being brought upon him from splitting him in half. He extended one foot out and kicked, feeling his opponent being forced back an inches, but otherwise remained standing.

"You learned a lot under Killer, having you?" Cross Blades growled. "Too bad, I know what my own son's capable of. I know how he fights!"

"Last time I check, I'm not your son!" In an instants, Kidd let go off his sword, and let the momentum behind Ghanga's own force pull him down, and punched the man's gut as hard as he could. Said man cried with pain and spewed red.

_I'm not done yet!_ He dug his fist into another spot in the abdomen and _twisted_ the flesh. The shrill scream filled him with both relish and loath.

And the sword stabbed again.

He snarled with pain and hurled back, feeling his inside rip as the blade was retreated. Furious, he landed another harsh blow, only to be struck by a herd of flying blades seconds later. He stumbling on the ground as another pack speed for him, barely avoiding that by rolling. They came, three or four at a time, as fast as any marksman's bullets, and all he could do as he clutched his bleeding wounds was dodging them as fast as he could- not very, but enough.

Then it was all stopped as a roar of many voices rang through the battlefield. By then, with vision slightly distorted, Kidd froze, think that it sounded a lot like the pirates. Had they finished off Killer? Impossible!

No, he mentally corrected himself moments later, the voices were too far away. Besides, Cross Blades won't stop and still for something like that.

The answer occurred to him another several moments later- the villagers.

He lost all thoughts and concerns about his current state, and numbed, both body and mind. Another roar.

_What they hell are they planning to do?_

"What the fuck?" Cross Blades growled under his breath, attention completely turned away from the boy as he glanced suspiciously towards the noises. "That can't be what I think it is."

_Those fucking old coots governing the villages, why aren't they stopping them?_ Kidd tightened his fists and ground his teeth. _I don't need them in this!_

"It is..." A dangerous shadow fell over the pirate captain's face. "You..." he turned back to the redhead boy, face twisted into the most ugly expression that Kidd had seen on anyone. "YOU AND KILLER ARE IN THIS, AREN'T YOU? YOU THINK YOU CAN GO UP AGAINST ME? I'M THE KING OF PIRATES!"

"'King of Pirates,'" Kidd sneered back, and picked up the knives that landed only a feet from him. "That title doesn't belong to you, and you shouldn't worry about obtaining it. I'll kill you like I promised Killer, and I'll make him..." He chuckled and grinned. "Che, I don't know what I'll make him do, not that it's any of your business."

"A WORTHLESS BRAT OF A DEVIL CAN'T STOP ME!" Cross Blades howled. "YOU'RE JUST A FREAK OF NATURE, WHAT CAN YOU DO?"

He narrowed his eyes. "'A freak of nature'?" Kidd echoed, ground his jaw. All insult he could take and hold back his rage, but that one he wouldn't, especially from a man like Ghanga. "What gives you the right to call me a freak of nature?"

The man sneered. "Aren't you? I've heard stories about you. Eustass Kidd, the so-called child of a devil who's good for nothing but bringing bad luck upon those you hate." He spat on the ground. "I shouldn't have let Killer take you under his wing. I should've killed you, and I should've killed _him_ too!" By then, his eyes were widened, making him look like nothing less of a mad man. "I didn't kill him, because I thought he'd turn out to be like his mother, that boy... His mother was such an obedient, foolish woman."

Kidd tightened the knives in his hand as the man spoke on, sounded drowned in his own voice as his eyes gazed everywhere, as if seeing the memories.

_The chance, it's coming close._

His jaw set with determination. _I'll make you sorry for ever calling me a freak._

"But he _isn't!_ He think he can go against me!" Cross Blades screeched, completely zoned in his own world. "Well he's damn wrong! I know what he wants!" The maddened man was shaking with fury. "He wants to be the Pirate King himself, that's why he stayed on the ship; so he can steal the title that was rightfully mine! He trained you to kill me, didn't he? Killer trained you so he could take over my crew, my ship and all of One Piece!"

Now!

"IT'S MINE! THE GOLD IS MINE! THE TITLE IS MINE! THE WORLD-"

Blood splattered across Kidd's face as the knives struck at once in four different places in the chest.

The man turned his head down slowly and stared at the raging boy with white in his eyes, and opened his mouth to say something. Kidd pulled out one knife and stabbed again, and the words came out as a wailing scream as blood spurt out of the new gap. "That," He spat out the blood that got into his mouth, "was the heart, I believe. If not, the lungs. How long can you live?"

Moments later, the giant man collapsed, answering the question.

He kicked the body was all his might just to ensure it, and stopped, backing from it as his head suddenly pounded. Little by little, he took deep breaths to get more oxygen, and became more clearheaded for moments.

_Rage is blindness, huh?  
_

And the instant he began to relax, energy drained from his system and his body screamed for rest. The clearheadedness turned to lightheadedness, and blank dots were beginning to appear in his vision, which was getting distorted again.

_Killer, are you done?_

He tried to listen for any sound of blades spinning in the air... Yes, he found it. There were three or four more left, and the masked man was doing away with them rather quickly.

One scream.

Another scream.

The final scream.

Kidd started to walk towards the fading sound of the scythes, where three Killers that were constantly blurring into one stood. The boy swore until his breath as his head pounded like a drum and his limbs and stomach began to hurt. Relief befallen on him as he crashed into something, and he clung to it for support, burned out. Beneath the scent of sweat and blood, the thing had a soft, faint smell of old books. His nose twitched at that; he'd ran into Killer, somehow this soothed him.

"Hey, the villagers are hiding in the forest," the masked man's voice, closer than he'd ever heard before, said. "They've been watching for the past minute."

"I know," he muttered back. "I heard them."

"What do you want me to do with them?"

He closed his eyes and chuckled. "Do I look like that I'm in any condition to think right now? Do whatever you want, just don't kill them."

"Got it."

Kidd felt a twinge of surprise. Was Killer actually listening to him? How weird. "And son of a bastard, I killed your fucking dad like I say I would. Are you happy?"

Silence. "Happy? Yeah, I guess I am."

"Good," he snapped. "I'm going to sleep now. Just know that you have a hell a lot of explaining to do when I wake up."

"Got it."

He'd listened to him again. He'd... No, no Kidd, no thinking. Tomorrow.

And he slowly feel into slumber. A hand patted his back. "Well done."

* * *

Saru was running. He had to thank the fact that the pirates deemed him worthless, and threw no questions when he abruptly turned and ran for the forest the moment he heard someone talking about what might happen. May it happen or not, tonight was the night for the rebellion. it was a good thing that they were prepared since the days before.

After what seemed like hours, he finally arrived in front of the village, where a woman was sweeping the streets when she saw him and stopped.

"You're Saru-san?" she asked, holding her broom close to her.

"Please-" He gasped for breath. "Please get your mayor and get ready!"

A door banged opened. "Oi, it's the pirate who's willing to help us."

"What is he doing here?" Another had opened, and soon, the villagers came out of the houses, muttering to one another.

_Breath, breath! _

"Saru-san?" Akio, the village mayor asked. "What's going on?"

"THEY'RE ATTACKING TONIGHT!"

Their faces paled. "But it's not winter yet! You told us that they're attacking in winter!"

"I don't know what Cross Blades is thinking! But you're all ready right? They're down at the beach right now! Akio-shichou, this is the best time! We must do this now before it's too late!" He turned to the village people. "Please get your weapons ready-"

"Hold it!"

"Akio-shichou!"

The old man stared him in the eyes. "Saru, we've been thinking for the times you weren't here, that maybe we're too reckless and thoughtless about this. Normally, a marine ship would've already taken the invading pirate out. Can't you see?" Then he shook his head. "No, a fight won't solve the problem. It'd be better if we all go into hiding. That's what we really need to do- hid and leave enough values to satisfy the pirates."

Saru widened his eyes. "Why are you backing out now?"

"That's right..." A woman murmured, her eyes casting down. "We'll die if we fight them."

Desperation whirled his mind. Why couldn't they understand? Hadn't he explained this to them already? "They'll kill you anyway! If you go into hiding, they'll just take their time to find each and every one of you! We're not human to them, we're games! What's so horrible about die fighting?"

This was exactly what had gotten his father and his friends killed. They'd given up without a fight, gave Cross Blades what he wanted, thinking they'd be spared. They didn't understand pirates.

"Then I promise; I promise that none of you will die!"

They stared at him with disbelief. "That's impossible!"

"Don't promise what you can't back up," Akio said.

"I..." No, he couldn't, he didn't have the power. "I can," he lied anyway. "Even if the rest of you don't want to fight, just send with me the ones who're willing!"

_There must be someone!_

For what seemed like eternity, nobody spoke or moved saved for occasional glances they shot at each other, until a middle-aged man stepped up.

"I will."

Saru sighed with relief. If one would go, the rest would follow.

And true enough to his prediction, a small army of around fifty consisted of mostly men and some women gathered, pitchforks and kitchen knives at hand. He nodded at the group, licking his lips nervously. "should we alert the other four villages as well?" he asked the closest person.

"We're already here."

He turned around.

_Good.  
_

They joined up with the already gathered unit.

_Fifty, and that's thirty from another village... In total there are over one hundred and fifty people coming. The crew has around one hundred men. If we can take them on one on one, and have fifty against Cross Blades, and turn Kidd against Killer..._

If _Kidd would go against the Massacre Man._

_That's right. I still have that problem._

"Is there anyone else left?" he called out, hoping for more recruits. Three more stepped up.

_Not enough, but it'll have to do._

Saru bit his lips and pushed away all uncertainties away in a corner. "We'll be back safely, don't your worry. I've got a plan that will surely work. READY?"

"AY!" They roared, raising whatever they took with them over their head, and began following him.

"I'll go too," Akio said as they started to head away.

"Shichou-"

"I'll help you sway Kidd to our side, Saru-san," the old man said with a knowing expression as Saru's eyes went wide with bewilderment. "That was part of your plan, wasn't it."

"...Yes."

* * *

But was happening turned out to not be something he expected, and behind him, he was sure that the shock was mutual for everyone else. Stunned, paled and more than some terrified, they stopped and dropped their weapons once they caught sight of the scene. Saru was nothing short of flabbergasted as he witnessed Killer's scythes flying through the air by a rope, knocking a head of one man and slicing another's spine in half.

And Kidd... That was Kidd fighting Ghanga right? He didn't see it wrong! No, it was definitely Kidd-san.

_What the hell is going on?_

"Everyone stay back," he harshly whispered, not taking his eyes off as Cross Blades screamed something about Killer training Kidd to kill him so he can steal the title of the Pirate King, something about One Piece. The villagers needed not to be told twice.

"Saru," Akio-shichou said. "Is this part of your plan?"

"...No!"

And at the same time, Kidd struck. Over thirty feet from the pirate captain, the boy had ran at him, but he had ran so fast that Saru didn't even see it, as if he was there kneeling on one knee one moment, then by his enemy the next.

"Where did he learn that?" the mayor asked, more shocked than him.

"The Massacre Man," he answered.

"He truly is a devil," a villager from behind him whispered to another, a sentence that sparked a whole round of discussion amongst themselves. "I knew it. The soothsayer was right. Now what do we do?"

Said devil collapsed on Killer's shoulder. Saru saw moving of his lips, and knew that they must be talking. Should he walk up to them? Would he be enough to stop the villagers if they get violent- which, if they do, meant that Killer will slaughter them all. The masked man wrapped an arm around the boy and patted his back. Seconds later, the front of the mask turned towards him.

_He knows that we're here._

"Saru," Akio whispered.

"Shichou-san," he said anxiously. "Please go along according to my words. This would end even more bloodily than it is if we aren't careful. Tell them to stay back, please."

The old man hesitated, then turned to the villagers and said, "Stay back!"

The sandy-haired young man stepped out from the forest, forcing himself to look ahead even as his former vice captain lifted a scythe up in his direction. The mayor had followed close behind him.

Trembling, he stopped in front of the criminal. His heart was about to jump our of his chest from fright, and he wanted to do nothing more than running away at the moment, but Saru forced himself to hold his ground, even as the air became cold at impossible speed.

"So you were planning to betray all along?" Killer said, stoic in tone.

"You knew," he blurted back, and swallowed before continuing and made sure that his voice wasn't loud enough for anyone but the three of them to hear- four, if one counted the unconscious Kidd. "I had a feeling that you do, unlike the rest of them, but you still never tried kill me off. You've wanted this to happen, don't you, Killer-sama?"

"A little," the masked man answered back. "As long as it's not too soon."

"Is this too soon?" he asked wearily.

"No," came the reply. "You're safe."

"Then, please put down your scythe. I can't help Kidd-san if you act like an enemy."

"Saru, what are you-"

"Please trust me, Shichou-san," he said, watching the Massacre Man. The scythe dropped from his hand onto the ground, and Killer waited.

_Here goes nothing._ Saru took a deep breath. "Killer-san," he began out loud so that everyone could hear. "I told you to not start until I give my signal. You'll only get severely injured without our help." He heard gasps from the villagers, and shot a glance towards Akio, who nodded and left to talk with his people. "And now you have. Please let me take Kidd to a doctor before he dies."

He held his arms out, indicating for the man to hand the unconscious boy over. The air around him went cold as seconds went on, but he still held on to his pose. "Please," he tried again, giving Killer a desperate look, extending his limbs out more, and dropped his act and said in a smaller voice, "He'll really die at this rate."

The man didn't comply to his exact words, but instead, scooped Kidd up from the ground, and walked passed him. Saru turned around and watched his back, wondering how the mayor was doing with the villagers right now. They've more or less smoothed, some holding onto their pitchforks and knives as the remaining pirates walked towards them.

Then, Killer stopped.

_What?_

"I know about this island's hostility towards this boy," he started in a normal-volume voice, though it held a commanding tone that grabbed everyone's attention. "If Eustass Kidd happens to 'accidentally' die while under your care, I will hold each and every single one of you responsible. Got it?"

They gazed at him with faces like they were shitting in their pants, and nodded.

The masked man averted his head away from the people and sideways towards Saru. "Lead the way."


	12. Remembrance of a Mistake

**Author's Note:** A load of thanks to _allycat18, Msaju17, poisonliz_ and_ QuietInsomniac_ for reviewing. :) And after eleven chapters, we're finally on the way! Woot woot! And here, we also have our first hint of shounen-ai. Very small, but it's there.

Enjoy!

* * *

The chirping of birds could be heard all throughout the area of the running river, which sped along its path at a rather slow pace. The day, for the most part, was sunny with occasional clouds blocking the bright rays. In the river- more of a shallow stream, actually, fishes could be seen swimming with the current.

A hand dipped itself into the cool water once again and splashed some into the inside of a bloody helmet. When cleaned, the owner of the mask set it aside, and squeezed water out of his long golden hair. Nobody will describe what he looked like because nobody else was there, and if by chance that someone saw him, they wouldn't be living to tell the tale of a stranger bathing in their river anyway.

Half an hour later when the sun had climbed to its highest peak, 'Massacre Man' Killer adjusted the mask on his head for one last time and picked up his scythes from a near by tree, and began heading back to the village's clinic.

He looked all too strange for this place. Children ran out of the way at the sight of him coming up the path for their parents, who then ushered everyone inside and closed all doors when he stepped onto the streets. Killer refused to let that depress him, and walked on. They came out minutes later when he was gone, resuming daily affairs.

He'd admit it if he allowed himself to; it did hurt a little. Getting hated by enemies was one thing, but shunned by civilians was not something he was used to, as he hadn't been in contact with any of them since he left his hometown, and back then with whom his grandfather was, everyone liked him. But, he told himself, this was the life of a pirate. He'd chosen this, and he won't let himself regret anything he did.

The doctor had called Kidd lucky. Most of the injuries were minor cuts, and the two major ones, while deep, barely missed his vital organs.

Killer pushed opened the door of the clinic, making the nurse standing behind the front desk drop her clipboard. She looked up to his tall figure with trembling mouth and impossibly wide eyes as if about to cry. "Ho- How may I help you, si- sir?" she stuttered, trying to pick up the clipboard with quivering hands.

"I'm here to see Eustass Kidd," he said.

She _really _was about to burst into tears.

"What? I was told that he can take visitors today."

"He... He..." Tears were running down her cheeks by now.

Behind his mask, Killer narrowed his eyes. "Just tell me what room," he snapped, losing his patience.

"107!" she sobbed, crashed into her chair and fell onto the floor, clutching her clipboard to her chest. "He's in room 107! Please, don't kill me!"

His hands twitched with irritation at this behavior. _No I won't, but I'd probably give you a good slap or two just to knock you out, even if you are a woman._ But deciding to not traumatize the nurse further he casually walked past an open entrance that led into a hallway, and proceeded heading for room 107.

* * *

Kidd's eyes fluttered open the moment he walked through the door, and the redhead shifted in his bed and directed his face towards him.

"Honda told me what happened," he said blandly. Killer took a guess that 'Honda' must be the traitor. "I'm surprised that they let you in here. I bet you scared everyone shitless, better not have killed anyone."

He disregarded that comment and sat down on the stool beside the bed. "You'll be out by tomorrow, they told me."

Kidd gave him an indifference glare and sat up on the bed. "I'm through with you dodging my questions. Talk."

"What do you want to know?"

The boy's eyes burned into his own as if he wasn't wearing a mask at all.

"Everything. You'll explain from the beginning. I want to know why you joined your father's crew, what are you hiding behind that damn mask of yours, how your mother plays into this-" He flinched, and Kidd smirked. "Yes, I know about her. Cross Blades and I had a very delightful conversation regarding her. Too bad 'cause I didn't manage to weasel everything out of him, so _you're_ explaining it. I want to _know_ about this secret plan of yours, and _know_ about it, not just hints here and there. Why you saved and trained me? How the hell do_ I_ fit?"

Silence.

"How much did he tell you?"

Kidd frowned as he rethought back to that night. "I know about Gol D. Roger." He gazed over at the faceless blue mask. "And I know that you look like your mother, Maria."

"So you have some background information already, huh?" Killer sat up straighter and linked his hands together. "I'll tell you.

"Now, where should I start? He told you about the Pirate King's arrival at our island first, right?"

The boy nodded.

"Then I should start there as well, I guess..." And with four more seconds of quietness, the tale began:

"Twenty-six years ago, Gol D. Roger sailed to South Blue and stationed his crew on a little, marine-less island. The town on the island was named Weibel with a population of less than five thousand. It was fairly prosperous place with little poverty and a fairly large middle-class people- ...No, on second thought, I should probably introduce the characters along with him: There was a wealthy town mayor named James. He had a daughter named Maria.

"At that time, my..." Killer stopped, as if something was holding back his words. "Ghanga, he wasn't a pirate yet, but a mere troublemaker who'd formed a little gang, doing what wannabe outlaws usually do- stealing, beating up whoever tried to pick a fight with them. The gang was pretty controlled and couldn't do much because the town did have patrolling officers. The highest that they've risen was during pirate raids, where some of them would join those crews. But Ghanga had been one to stay until Roger came about.

"My mother, on the other hand, was very protected because she was the only child and a girl. My grandfather was the town's mayor. Before becoming it, he'd served in the navy and later became a merchant and grew rich from trade. She lived a censored life, and thought of the world as nothing less than sunshines and rainbows. Whatever _that_ man said about Maria was all true- she's foolishly innocent and naive." Kidd raised an eyebrow at the masked man insulting his own mother. "Gol D. Roger was the first pirate she'd ever came in personal contact with, and he'd left an impression on her that all pirates were good, brave warriors of the sea who, while had their share of excessive drinking and partying, were saviors of the people."

The boy snickered, earning a very sharp... Well not so much a glare than cold air, but that just meant that Killer was glaring. He swallows back another laugh and motioned him to continue.

"Then, from the moment Roger left for Grand Line again, Ghanga started to talk about piracy, and he caught her attention. Maria fell in love with her perfect image of a glorious sailor that she painted over his odious character. They married against everyone else's wishes years later; he gained my mother's estates and the money that she inherited. He retired from the gangster life and moved onto gambling. Three months after my birth, the Pirate King was executed. A year later, he set sail to find One Piece with twenty-something other men from his old group.

"The ship came back two years later with a completely new crew in it, save for him- everyone else from the town was gone. He claimed that they all died of scurvy."

"He killed them," Kidd said immediately. "Because he wasn't captain and he wouldn't ration the shares, right? So he killed his 'friends' in order to gain everything and started a new crew, filling it with people who'd listen and obey him."

"Who knows, nobody looked into it." By the tone of his voice, it was obvious of what Killer thought. The bastard did kill his own crew mates all right.

"Go on."

"I only saw him every few years in person, and only knew what he looked like through his bounty posters after he stopped coming home. The first bounty they issued was for 5,000,000 beri. When it printed out, marines came to our town for the first time to question our family." The words _"the world is a cruel place"_ echoed in Kidd's head, and he knew how Killer had learned it; marines, who didn't even try to save his town from pirate attacks, suddenly grew interested simply because a bounty head came from the island.

"He stopped coming home when I was about nine or ten. When I was twelve, my mother fell sick to tuberculosis. In my town we had doctors, but we didn't have the necessary ingredients to make the medicine. So I started to devote myself to searching the materials to cure it. Unfortunately, a year wasn't enough, and she died." _Drugs and Herbs: Preservers of Health_, the book title flashed through Kidd's mind.

A grief silence fell over them. Was Killer's voice cracking just then, or was he imagining it?

"What does this have to do with anything?" he asked, breaking the heavy air.

"She was stupid, and she still believed that Ghanga was good," Killer went on. "I made a promise to her by her deathbed, and I told her that I won't take off my mask and shame her face until I complete it." Kidd's ears perked up. "Her exact words were, 'Help your father. Make the future Pirate King the next Pirate King.'"

_...Oh_.

Kidd's face broke into a grin as it dawned on him, and he began to laugh at the pure ridiculousness of everything. Killer! Stupid Killer! He thought the man was a smart, aloof bastard. But now, what he just said made Kidd realized that he was just a bastard.

Killer didn't stop him as he laughed on, probably knowing exactly why he was doing so.

"Hahaha! You're too pathetic! You allowed someone to kill your own father, even go as far as _encouraging_ him, and at the same time twisting your dead mother's wish around to comply with your principles," he wheezed, trying to get his breathing under control. "No, no, don't tell me anymore. I knew what happened next!" He chuckled one last time and turned to face the masked man. "So you started training, and when you were ready, you set sail alone to look for your father.

"When you found him and claimed that you'll make him Pirate King he accepted you immediately, thinking that his son was like his wife. But once on his ship long enough, you saw his true color, and he wasn't the man that your mother made him out to be. You started to rethink the idea of making him Pirate King. You didn't want to do it, but you wouldn't go against your mother's words."

He sneered at Killer.

"So you found a way around it, and decided to handpick your own candidate instead."

No reaction from the masked man. "That's why you stayed on his ship; there was a better chance for you to run into such a person versus traveling alone. And it doesn't break your promise to your mother either, because in a way, you're doing everything she commanded of you- helping your father, and making the next Pirate King. The two just happen to not be the same person. Am I wrong?"

"You're right."

"And you picked me. That's why you've been training me."

"I saw potential in you," Killer replied, lifting up his head slightly. "Are you refusing?"

For some reason, that question threw Kidd off guard.

Was he? He never really thought about it.

The Pirate King was a person with power, wealth and fame all gathered in him, and Kidd spared moments on the three. But like the time that Cross Blades asked him, something inside gave to same answer: no. He had no desire for any of those things. Desires that any normal person would have.

_But I must want something. What do I want that being Pirate King will give me?_

And his eyes found themselves staring at Killer. The answer came to him. He gulped, refused to rethink it lest he might change his mind, and responded, "I'll do it. I'll find One Piece and become the Pirate King. And..." He squeezed his hands with determination. "...And when I do, I will make you take your mask off and bow to me."

The beating of his heart sped up as silence dragged time out. Finally, he heard Killer smirking behind the mask. "Take my mask off and make me bow to you, huh? Sounds fair enough to me, future Pirate King."

He smirked back. _It's a promise, then._

* * *

Two mornings later, Saru grimaced as the air grew cold, and looked nervously between a ticked Killer and a haughty, sneering Kidd.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the masked man growled.

"What?" Kidd drawled.

The temperature dropped lower.

"I'm asking you, what the hell is up with the black lips?"

"Oh that..." the boy said shrewdly. "It's our new theme, first mate."

_Lipsticks?_ Saru's eyebrows twitched, and shivered at the frigid air, which didn't seem to have the same effect on Kidd.

Akio coughed, catching everyone's attention. They all looked over to the old man, who shot everyone a stern but ineffective look before turning to face the black-lipped boy who'd also acquired a new set of goggles that was holding his hair back from his face. "Kidd, you're really going to be a pirate?" The boy snorted and nodded. "Then please leave at once and never come back."

"So eager to get rid of me?"

The mayor looked at him sullenly. "I wish you didn't choose this."

Kidd frowned. "Too bad for you. If you're afraid that my being from this island might tarnish any non-existing reputation you have with the outside world, then that's your damn problem, not mine."

Akio lowered his head. "Just go, but be careful. You may think that I don't care for you, but you're a child I saw growing up."

"Hmph, like you ever gave a shit before," the boy grunted. "Killer, we're leaving!"

The two turned their backs to him and started down the sand-covered path for the beach.

"You're not going with them?"

Saru looked at the old mayor. "No, I hate the life of a pirate... Hell, I'm just not born for the sea- I even hate being a merchant from just seeing what my father has to go through. A quiet village life suits me more." And they began to head up the path in the opposite direction of the two pirates. "I guess the only problem here will be where I'd live. Hey, Shichou-san, that old soothsayer's hut is still empty, right? Would anyone mind if I start living there as a maple syrup maker? There seems to be a lot of maple trees in that area."

Akio hummed. "I'll talk things over with the others, but there should be no problem."

"That's good then," he said, chuckling lightheartedly. "Can you walk me there?"

"Sure."

The walk was long and slow with little words exchanged. Soon, old man Akio's mind began to drift away, thinking about the boy he knew as Eustass Kidd, thinking about an old friend, and a woman who'd looked forward to be a mother. Oh, there was a little worm in there too, but it was insignificant...

* * *

_Nineteen years ago, there had been a stormy night of thunder and rain..._

_"Akio," his wife, the midwife of the village, shouted for him as he attended the boiling water in the next room. "What are you doing? Lukewarm, I need_ lukewarm_ water! How is a newborn suppose to take hot water?"_

_The mayor sighed and took the pot off the stove, and dumped it into a tub of cold water and waited for the temperature to reach homeostasis, before lifting the heavy tub of water with might and carrying it as fast as he could over to the other room. "Hurry! The child's head is out!"_

_The two of them gathered around the screaming woman that was Eustass Grace, whose screams were muffled by the cloth she was biting on, her hands tugging the ropes hanging from the ceiling. His wife's assistant had been out sick that day, leaving Akio to take the position of doing all the miscellaneous chores._

_"There, there," his wife cooed softly to the crying woman on the bed. "It's out, it's out, my dear." Grace whimpered as she spat out the gag, half sobbing from pain and half giggling at her child being born. "It's a boy, Grace." She nodded, tired, but hopeful eyes gazed longingly at the little bundle. The older woman smiled at her. "And it's a quite brave one too, he's moving but he isn't even crying! That's a rarity, you'll have a strong child!"_

_The new mother's face broke into a smile, and extended out her shaking hands, reaching for her child. By the side of the bed, Akio couldn't help but smiled, understanding why his wife chose such a profession; the miracle of a young one born, the beauty of a new mother's smile and the warming atmosphere created when that mother held her infant, were incomparable. Grace sat up from bed as the midwife placed the baby in her arm with care. Her hand gently ran through that little patch of wild red hair- and none of them thought it was strange at first, as neither of the Eustass parents had red hair with Grace a head of straight black, as did her husband. It must have been the blood._

_ "I finally did it," Grace sobbed in her hoarse voice, and looked up at him. "I gave him a baby boy, Shichou-san. He won't hurt me anymore, right? My child will save me?" She was talking about William, her husband. "I was so scared that he'd make me lose this one again before it can be born..." And she resumed back to crying. Two tiny bloody covered hands reached up from the blanket and cupped her cheeks, as if trying to comfort her, mixing the tears with blood._

_For that one last moment, Akio saw happiness in the young woman's eyes. The next, it was destroyed._

_The door slammed open. The three of them flinched, startled._

_"...Wergil?"_

_The soothsayer stepped into the room slowly with a trail of water following him, shoulders heaving up and down as if he'd been running- and he probably had._

_"Wergil," Akio asked his old friend. "What's wrong?" The drenched man's eyes were the widest Akio had ever seen them, and his bony hands were gripping tightly on his stone staff, shivering. He looked terrified. "Wergil?"_

_He slowly turned to stare at Grace, who shrunk lower in her bed. "Priest-san?"_

_The words out of his mouth made their blood run cold. _

_"Kill it."_

_"What?" the midwife asked with disbelief._

_"That child is a mistake. Kill it," Wergil said with a trembling voice. "Kill it! It's not suppose to be here!"_

_Akio shook his head. "Are you hearing what you're saying?"_

_Grace whimpered, looking between the baby and the soothsayer with fear and confusion._

_"You don't understand. That baby must die!"_

_"Wergil, you want us to kill an infant? What's wrong with you?"_

_The nameless child let out an ear-piercing scream, his limbs stretched and waved back and forth in his mother's embrace. And the three got no warning at all as the soothsayer ran forward and lunged for the baby._

_"Stop!" He held his friend back from bashing his wife, who was hovering above the mother and the child, protecting them. "Explain first! Tell us what happened! Calm down, CALM! Sit, SIT!"_

_Finally, Wergil listened and sat down. "It's a mistake," he whispered._

_"What's a mistake?"_

_"It's not suppose to be here, Akio. Kill the child now before it grows up," he said. "If we don't kill it-" The soothsayer choked. "That child will destroy everything."_

_They went quiet as they left the words sink in. "...How do you know?" the mayor asked. "It's just a baby, what can it do?"_

_"Because it's not a D!" Wergil shouted, then his face turned pale._

What? _"What is a D?"_

_"I..." The man shook his head. "I said too much."_

_"Wergil," he pleaded the soothsayer. "What are you talking about?"  
_

_"Please kill it." He looked at a crying Grace. "Have another one, kill it."_

_"Shichou-san-"_

_"No!" Akio shouted, making the woman jump. "I won't allow it! You're his mother, how can you think about murdering your own son?"_

_"Kill it."_

_Grace began to cry louder than ever, and cast the baby aside. Akio's wife hesitatingly scooped it up and placed it in the tub and started washing the blood away._

_On a stormy night in autumn, Eustass Grace was led to believe that she'd given birth to a monster._

_Two years passed since that day, and Akio found himself in Wergil's straw-made hut, where the old soothsayer lay in his bed. In the two years, he seemed to have aged twenty._

_"My old friend," Akio muttered. "Why won't you seeing a doctor?"_

_Wergil turned his feverish eyes towards him. "I told you, Akio. I'm done for. This disease has no cure."_

_He'd tried more than once to convince the man to visit one of the villages' doctors, but the sick man remained unmoved. It was in his blood, he said, everyone in his family died of it, and he would go the same way. Shaking his head like all other times, the mayor left the hut and returned back to home. On the way, a redheaded, nearly naked toddler sat in the middle of the path, a worm in his little hands._

_The boy, as if sensing him, stopped and turned his head towards the man, and as quickly as he'd paid the attention, his focus was drawn away by the wiggling, slimy creature he held._

_Up ahead of the baby, Eustass William stormed out of his house with two bottles of beer in hand. Howling with rage, he threw one inside, and the smashing of glass could be hear all around them. He shouted profanities, opened the second bottle and proceed taking large gulps from it while disappearing down the road, most likely heading for a bar in the busier part of the village._

_His yet speech-capable son watched him go with indifference as he put a side of the worm to his lips and slurped it up. Akio, shocked with disgust, immediately bent down, picked the boy up and began prying his mouth open to make him spit the worm out. Kidd did, then turned again to look at him before bursting into tears._

_The man's heart clenched when hearing the cries. With a sigh, he held the struggling kid, and walked towards the house._

_When William first saw the redheaded baby, he had jumped to the conclusion of Grace cheating on him and refused to hear her out, not even taking into account of the fact that no one on the island had hair as red and wild as Kidd's. Now at the age of two, it was clear that the child resembled neither parents. It was clear that he was strange. It was also clear that he was no longer being taken care off._

_The mayor came into the house and saw the mother by the sink, washing dishes. The broken bottle was left unattended on the ground._

_"Grace," he called, causing the woman to turn around, and was surprise at how sullen and aloof a person she'd become. He set the toddler far from the broken glasses on the floor. "How long was it since Kidd last ate?"_

_"Who knows," she answered coldly._

_He didn't press any further. "You got food?"_

_"Hai," she said. "Apples, bamboos, and rice enough for a month."_

_Of course, 'for a month' did not include her husband or child. Nevertheless, the old man picked up an apple, gave it a quick wash and handed it to the child, who took it from him, rotated the fruit in his hands with curiosity before sinking his teeth into it, munching away happily. Akio decided not to say anything about finding the baby in the middle of the road, eating worms, knowing that the mother wouldn't care to worry._

_Wergil passed away two months later._

_Six more years passed._

_A hoard of angry villagers chased a speeding blur down the road. Akio watched from a dark alleyway the figure of an eight year old boy zooming for the forest, about to pass him._

_He reached his hands out and pulled the figure away from the sight of the running mob. The child started to yelp, but he quickly covered the mouth with a hand._

_"Where the hell did that little devil go?" someone snarled._

_"He's way too fast. Maybe he hide in the forest."_

_"Hmph, we'll get him tomorrow!"_

_Minutes later, the mob separated. Akio let go of his grasps._

_"What's big idea, baka-geezer?" the little boy scowled._

_"You're stealing again?"_

_Kidd sneered and hugged the mushed cake to himself. "It's their fault that they put it on display. You'll only get robbed that way." He slapped the boy. "Oi!"_

_He stared down at the boy with anger, who challenged his stare. "How many times do I have to tell you?"_

_"Why don't you fucking quit when you know it's not working?" Kidd retorted. "My parents won't even do anything, so why the hell should you?"_

_What else could he say? "Go home," he commanded._

_"No."_

_"Kidd, you have to go home right now. Return the food and apologize."_

_"No. I stole it. It's mine."_

_"__NOW!"_

_Kidd stomped his left foot down. "NO!"_

_"All right," he muttered and sighed, seeing this. "All right... I'm pay for it. But you have to promise me to stop stealing."_

_"If you want me to stop, then adopt me!" _

_Akio froze. "What?"_

_The boy fought to keep a straight face as he looked into the mayor's eyes. The corner of his mouth was twitching downwards, and his breath was coming out as little sobs. "If you want me to stop stealing, then adopt me!" he repeated._

_Akio opened his mouth, and closed it again, swallowing hard. "I can't," he answered._

_Kidd broke into a small, one-second cry before wiping what little tears that leaked. He turned upwards again and gave the man a hateful look. Akio flinched, never thought that he'd see such a dark expression on an eight year old. "Then shut up! Don't tell me what to do because you're not my parent!" He tried to kick the man, missing Akio's right leg by inches, and ran out of the alleyway._

_To this day, he still felt a twinge of regret-_

"Shichou-san_."_ Saru's voice snapped him back to present. "We're here."

Akio nodded. "I was zoning out. Thank you."

"You're welcome," the young man said with a bright smile, looking at the hut. "This looks really peaceful and quite enough for one person. Of course, if I ever get marry, extending it wouldn't be a problem either. The only thing I have to worry about would be forest fire." He walked ahead. "Shall we go in?"

"Of course," the mayor agreed.

The two of them went in.

Their eyes narrowed the next moment when they found the hut void of everything but the barest furnitures.

"Wergil..." he muttered under his breath, trying to locate something that he knew that belonged to his old friend.

"What?" Saru asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

There was silence for five seconds, then the young man said to him, "I thought somebody had snooped around when you mayors first led me here. There were fingerprints and handprints, indicating that someone has been tampering with the soothsayer's things." He walked over to a mat and sat down. "It's Killer."

"The Massacre Man took them?"

"Most likely."

"But why?"

Saru sighed. "Who knows..."

'Massacre Man' Killer, Akio lowered his tired eyes as he recounted the times he'd seem mentions of the pirate- the son and vice-captain of 'Cross Blades' Ghanga. Not much information was found on him, but he was notorious for his efficient killing techniques that usually left little to no enemies to retell their encounters with him. And now he'd become Kidd's companion.

Akio should be worried; he'd always worried when it came to the boy, no matter how little the child thought he cared.

But now, despite everything all he could think was, _Please, take good care of Kidd._

* * *

Meanwhile, by the beach...

"All the sails and flags are blank," Kidd stated the obvious, looking around the ship and seeing no signs of Ghanga's mark anywhere. "You did this?"

"Yeah," Killer answered. "Since the Cross Blades pirates are done for, why should we sail with their flag up? I've done a lot of reconstruction during the time you were bedridden."

"That's a good thing, I suppose," the boy grunted, climbing the latter and hopping over the rail.

"It would be better if you'd take off that stupid lipstick and goggles," Killer said. "You look like an idiot."

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead. "And how much better do you suppose a _mask_ looks?"

"A lot better."

More veins popped as he began to unfurl the sails. "You can't talk to me that way, I'm your captain!"

"You're my captain?" the masked man echoed and snorted. "Keep on dreaming. You're not my captain until you become stronger than me. Why should I submit to your whines when I can easily beat you up? I can talk to you any way I feel like."

_Fuck you, masked freak! We're only half an hour into pirating and you're already ticking me off?_ "Just you wait!" he snapped as he tightened the ropes. "I'll be kicking your ass in no time, and everybody in the crew will have to call me Captain!"

"Good luck with that."

"Oi, you're suppose to help me, you know!"

"Whatever, kid."

His fists tightened, and the thought of running up to the man and try beating him up then and there ran through his mind, but he pushed the tempting suggestion away, telling himself not to be reckless. "For the last fucking time, don't make a pun out of my name! And that's _Captain_ Kidd to you!" Killer snorted in response.

Not so far away, a suspicious looking periscope watched the moving ship.

* * *

Days later, a marine soldier stood saluting in front of his lieutenant commander, who was looking back and forth between two bounty posters and two newly taken pictures.

"That's them?" he muttered.

"Yes sir!"

"'Massacre Man' Killer, and Eustass Kidd, an unknown village boy from the island. The report said that they killed the entire Cross Blades crew?" he muttered again.

"Yes sir!" the soldier replied. "According to the villagers, Eustass Kidd killed Cross Blades while the Massacre Man took down the rest of the crew, sir!"

"And they're pirates now?"

"Yes sir! Their intentions remain unknown, however."

The commander sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Geez, this is just great," he said to himself. "Out with one pirate, in with another. How troublesome." He scowled at the air to his left, not that it did anything wrong. "I'm guessing Massacre Man took this 'Kidd' boy as a subordinate?"

"N- No, sir," the soldier said. "Quite the contrary, from what our submarine spies can gather, Eustass Kidd is Massacre Man's captain. They said that he was screaming about it during their leaving of the island, I believe..."

"'Screaming about it'?" The commander raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "Never mind. Fax a copy of the report to the higher-ups and ask them to answer back with the appropriate bounty amounts."

"Yes sir!" The younger marine saluted once more and jogged out of his office.

The commander reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigar, lighted it up and took a deep puff. "Captain," he murmured to himself as smoke filled the room. "Captain Kidd... Eustass 'Captain' Kidd?"


	13. Inter Arc: The Backward Ss

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17_, _allycat18_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing!

This is an **Inter Arc**. What is an Inter Arc? You probably won't find it in a dictionary anywhere since I made it up, but it's exactly what it looks like, and you should know the idea of it if you follow the anime as well, where there are Inter Arcs everywhere; a little one-shot or a tiny series of drabbles between arcs, AKA fillers.

After every arc, there are going to be about one to three of these of various lengths. Do they relate to the story itself? Sometimes (in this case, it does), but their main points are for plot break and/or crew-interaction time. Don't think that Luffy's crew can have fun because they're funny by nature and Kidd's crew can't, 'cause they will! I, as a fanfiction writer, will _make_ them without twisting their characters to the point of nonrecognition. So have a laugh while I flesh out the next chapter. :)

* * *

Day Two:

Kidd smirked as he read the number on the scale. It was a happy, smug smirk, a look that could be intercepted as, _I grew four centimeters over the last three months, which means that I'm getting closer to the day where I can tower over that bastard with a mother complex_. And that was exactly what it was.

It wasn't just the gained height. He'd also gained weight- muscle weight, which was a good thing, remembering what Killer said about him on training day number one. Soon, he wouldn't able to make fun of Kidd's for his stature anymore.

His euphoria, however, was cut short by a sudden explosion on the other side of the ship. Kidd jumped as the floor shook by the impact, and ran out of the doctor's office where he'd found his medical examination that they conducted without his permission- not that he really minded by now. His eyes scanned the outside for any signs of enemy attacks, and found nothing but smoke coming out of what was the kitchen.

Moments later, the irritated boy kicked the locked door of the galley open and found a blackened Killer standing the opposite of a stove fuming dark smoke. Three pots fell onto the floor as the door fell down, and a bunch of empty mugs rolled on the ground. Plates were mostly smashed, and just behind the exploded stove was a huge hole. There was something strange and burnt stuck on the ceiling.

The Massacre Man rubbed his mask with his sleeves, facing him. "Told you," he said calmly.

"...Was that our lunch?" Kidd asked.

"Part of it," the blackened one answered. "I was trying to scramble eggs."

"Yeah, eggs?" sarcasm dripped like venom. "Not the whole kitchen, useless lard?"

"Hmph," Killer responded impassively, "I told you that I can't do it, but you're the one who kept insisting..."

What had happened earlier...

_"Make lunch," Kidd ordered, tugging at the fishing rod as his first mate walked past him._

_"No."_

_"Why the hell not?" the boy barked. "I've been doing all the cooking for the past two days, now it's your turn!"_

_"Fine, but you'll regret it."_

_"I don't care as long as it's edible."_

_"I'm not promising anything." _

"...I've never touched a stove before in my life," he finished.

_I bet you haven't!_ Kidd seethed. _You're a rich brat who's been brought up with a silver spoon in your mouth!_

"And I'm not cleaning it either," said rich brat continued, dusting himself off and walking out of the disastrous setting. "Since you're the genius who put me here, this is largely your fault. I'm going to go check the weather and make sure we're on course. After that, I'll need to wash up."

"OI!"

* * *

Day Four:

_BAM!_

Kidd winced as his body broke the rail of the ship into pieces. The quickly-developed instincts he'd gained over the past days of reaching out in time to grab the side of the ship as he felt himself falling off the edge acted. He jumped sideways back on, only to meet with Killer's rotating scythes. It flew towards him with incredible speed, and he, by instincts again, hit it aside.

Killer had told him that he needed more training, and he'd grudgingly agreed.

_But damn it! _Kidd hissed under his breath as he dodged another attack and heard the splitting of the floorboard as Killer's blades struck it. _Who does he think is fixing the damages later?_

_

* * *

_

Day Eight:

"West, W-E-S-T. Not W-E-A-S-T, that's pronounced 'weast.' Unless it actually means something, quit writing it, moron."

"..."

"For the last time, there is not such thing as 'nouth'. Don't combine two different words together!"

"..."

Temperature dropped severely. "Give me that pen, Kidd."

* * *

Day Eleven:

They were nearly out of food.

_It shouldn't be that much of a problem, since we're out at sea,_ was what Kidd had thought first before learning something; no, it was a big problem. Schools of fishes just wouldn't swim anywhere in the ocean, and some seemed to have learned the old bait-on-hook trick humans had been using for the last... Oh, as long as humanity existed, he supposed. Fishing wasn't working; it hadn't worked for the two days he was doing it.

Kidd glanced up towards the high Crow's Nest, where blond hair was draping downwards and swaying in the gentle breeze. Killer had said that they were not going to arrive at the next island for at least two more days.

The next island, named Brecciame, will have the necessary equipments they'd needed in order to go into Grand Line. Why couldn't they just sail to Meridiano? Apparently, it was too far for their supplies to take them. One stop wouldn't make any difference, the boy decided, and they needed to replenished their sources.

His stomach growled.

_Damn it._ He shook the fishing rod, scowling down at the water. _I'm bored out of my mind._

_Screw this shit, it's not like I'm going to catch anything._

"Oi," he called. "I'm going inside."_  
_

No answer.

_Fine._

There was still one place in the ship he had yet explored.

Kidd opened the door that used to be Cross Blades' room. His noses wrinkled at the unpleasant odor of rum mixed with something that smelled suspiciously like dead rodents, despite how well-decorated the room was- No, he corrected himself a moment later, it wasn't well-decorated as in an organized fashion. It was _expensively-_decorated with gold and gems hanging all over the place. Beneath the bed was a big box that was no doubt filled with more valuables. No wonder Killer let the villagers take all the money on-board.

The room was typical of what one expected from a throat-cutting pirate captain.

_And here I was hoping to find a better captain's quarter. If I want this room, I have to carry out everything and reorganized, how troublesome. Not to mention the smell...  
_

_Che, the berth is a better place._

He was about to leave when something caught his attention. Kidd stopped in the middle of his movement and turned back around at the object; a relatively small box that sat on beneath a shower of golden coins and beri bills that were all on top of a desk. He stalked towards it and picked it up.

Ornamented with deep red stones all over, the box could have blended in with all the other junks, had he not remembered something from two months ago.

_"...I slain eight heads, eight! That was my greatest slain in one fight so far, and it was one of our greatest digs too! That pirate ship had just finished attacking a merchant ship not two days go, and their treasure cases were packed with beri bills and booties! We struck a treasure stash of over seventy million beri! Ain't that great, eh newbie? Hahaha!"_

The bastard with the pierced nostril.

_"There was box, too, that no one can get open. Not even the captain. It's been sitting on his desk for months now. They say it must be some great treasure that's worth hundreds of millions of beri. Some said it's too light to be gold. Do you want to know what I think it is?"_

Kidd examined the object in his hand, and touched the lock. Of course Cross Blades wouldn't try to break the box by force. The stones must be rubies, making the box itself worth a great deal alone. He shook it and a rattling sound of something hitting wood answered. Yes, there was something in there all right. He picked up a pen that lay inches away on the same desk and began picking at the lock.

The metal tip went in and he wiggled it around. Strange, nothing was stopping it. Kidd frowned. This lock was different from every other that he'd encountered, where there would always be something inside that would be trying to stop his lock-picking gadgets. This was just flat surface.

He poked the pen in again to confirm his presumption, and found it to be right. He paused and peeked into the hole. There was little light, but enough.

"This isn't a lock at all," he concluded to himself with a smirk. "This thing is just here on the front to fool people."

If the lock was fake, could be box be as well?

No, unless the maker of this was a joker, this box was designed to protect something. He revolved it around, looking at it from all different angles and sides, scratching the stones with his fingernails.

A nailed dug between a 'stone' and the wood. Kidd took his hand off, and saw 'stone' sealing back on. He reached out and dug under there again, moments later peeling off the red rim-stone sticker off the bottom of the box to reveal a rectangular black spot.

Thieves of the sea fooled by a mere sticker, Kidd grinned. He pushed at the spot and felt it gave away. Seconds later, the lid popped open and something rolled out onto the ground. No longer interested in the box, the redhead threw it aside and lunged for the treasure that fell out. His hands closed around a spherical object, and his heart raced, eager to find out what it was.

The sight was disappointing; it looked like some sort of weird fruit with whirls, very mushy, yet had leather-like skin.

_Food?_ The fruit didn't resemble anything he'd ever seen, and it didn't look edible either. _I doubt it. Didn't that nostril bastard said something else?_

He searched his memories.

_Yes, he said that it might a Devil Fruit. Those things sell for as high as two hundred million beri! But fruits that gives human supernatural powers in exchange for the ability to swim? They don't exist. You get laugh at for telling tall tales like that._

Kidd debated in his head as he juggled the thing back and forth between his two hands. Should he eat it? He _was_ hungry. A voice in his mind told him to take it to Killer, and he pushed it out instantly.

_What the hell? What's the worst that can happen? The Sea Devil appearing here himself and take my soul for eating his piece of shit?_ He snorted in his mind. _That's stupid._

Kidd shrugged with unconcern, peeling the skin off and stuffed the fruit into his mouth. A snack before the next meal sounded great to him... Was what he thought before consuming the fruit.

It was no doubt the worst thing his taste buds had ever encountered. Kidd shuddered and gulped the whole thing down without chewing it properly before the thought of throwing it back up occurred to him. Then he had to fight that urge as well, because vomiting not only meant tasting it once again, but tasting it with... His face turned slightly green.

_It's probably a damn rotten orange that's been sitting there for years, _he told himself, pissed that he even tried to eat it.

* * *

Day Twelve:

The seagull squawked as Killer placed a coin into its pouch and flew away.

"''Fire Fist' Ace Last Spot in Bailaston in West Blue Destroyed Entire Marine Base'," the masked man read the cover. "I haven't read about him in a long time. The last front page article on him was from a year ago when he joined the Whitebeard pirates as the commander of the second division. Looks like he's up to something again."

Kidd pointedly ignored him, recalling the time that Killer had made him memorize bounty posters. He was _not_ getting the redhead into newspapers.

"Hm?"

The boy plopped himself against the main mast, closing his eyes. The nasty taste had left his mouth by the morning, and he'd felt no different, except a lot grumpier.

"Oi, look at this," Killer said.

"No."

"It's important."

"Then read it out to me," he snapped.

Silence. "'Eustass Kidd, Dead or Alive, 35,000,000 beri-'"

His eyes flew open. _What?_ "Give me that!"

And there it was in his hand his very own bounty poster. Kidd went through several shades of various colors all within five seconds. Rushes of adrenaline flooded his system, filling him with everything from disturbance to confusion. He was wanted, dead or alive? They wanted him dead? And for 35,000,000 beri? That made him a criminal.

_Why am I surprise?_ He mentally hit himself. _I'm a pirate, and Killer's already wanted for 15,000,000 beri._

Then he saw the bounty poster Killer held in his hands of himself. The 15,000,000 had changed to 25,000,000.

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

"Do?" Killer sounded amused. "Why should we do anything. You got a bounty, and a great start at that. 35,000,000 beri is not bad at all for a South Blue rookie. It's probably lower-than-average for Grand Line, but-"

"So it's some kind of reward to you?" he asked.

"You can say that."

"But," he set the poster aside. "Shouldn't yours be higher than mine?"

Killer leaned against the mast and explained, "As far as the marines are concerned, you're my superior in rank, therefore, you're more dangerous. This had nothing to do with power or accomplishment, but rather how big of a threat you are to the World Government. Since you killed Ghanga, they must have dubbed you as a bigger threat, being a pirate as well. And here, they gave you a nickname too... Eustass 'Captain' Kidd."

The new bounty head raised an eyebrow. "'Captain'?" he scoffed. What kind of a nickname is that? You get to be 'Massacre Man' and all I got is 'Captain'?"

Killer bit back a chuckle. The idiot seemed to have forgotten all about what happened on day one, where he'd screamed to the whole world of his stand in the two-man crew. "You don't get to pick what your enemies name you. What makes you think that I want to be called 'Massacre Man'?"

At this, Kidd gave him a glare and stomped away, beneath his breath muttering something along the lines of, "And they even wrote the 'S's backwards, stupid marines."


	14. The Shinoda Kai

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17_, _allycat18, The Fluffy One_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing! I'm sorry that it took so long, there's been some trouble with thinking and planning this arc out, but I got it to work. :)

(1)Yakuza- In real life, this is the word for 'a member of an organized crime', 'gangster', or to put in simpler word 'mafia' in Japanese, and in English- or Engrish- it refers strictly to the _Japanese_ mafias. The term is tweaked to fit the needs of this story.

(2)Ane-san- In a traditional Japanese mafia family, 'Ane-san' is the honorific term to call the wife of the top boss. It means 'Big Sister'.

(3)Oyabun- Literally means 'Father', but commonly used to address the Don of a Japanese mafia family by the underlings.

* * *

"Is that it up ahead?" Kidd jabbed his thumb at the speck as he sat leaning against the the rail when he saw Killer coming from the orlop. A intrigued grin formed on his face as they drew closer, and he could make out tall buildings. What was the island's name again? Brecciame, right? "You told me that it's a city before?"

"Yes, that's Brecciame," the masked man said. "With a population of nearly three-quarters of a million, it harbors three major ports- two for trade and travel, and one reserved especially for the marines coming and going; like I said, there's a marine base stationed there, run by a captain. It's pretty well-off, and pirates who don't want to stop by Meridiano would usually come here instead."

_Sounds interesting._

"Don't get any ideas."

The grin faltered and changed into a scowl. "I won't."

"I know how badly you control your temper. We're just here to get enough supplies to get us to Meridiano," Killer said. "Draw any attention and I'll clobber you."

"_You're_ the one who'd draw attention with your damn mask," Kidd retorted. "You stand out like a fucking sore thumb!"

"I mean it," the man said, taking hold of the steering wheel as they drew nearer.

"And why do we need to go to Meridiano if we can get everything we need here?"

"Because pirates who linger here too long are idiots," came the answer.

The captain raised an eyebrow. "'Idiots'?" he echoed. "Because of the marines? Shouldn't Meridiano be more secured since it's the closest island to Grand Line?"

"No."

_No?_ That got him curious. "Why? What's here in Brecciame?"

They were close enough to the island for Kidd to make out the ports, where dozens of navy-blue marine ships lined the docks with their seagull flags flapping in the wind. Mentioning flags, Kidd looked up to the direction of the Crow's Nest, where the blank, black flag still fluttered there. He turned his attention back to Killer.

"A yakuza(1) family," the masked man said.

"Yakuza?" Kidd snickered. "Mafia groups still exist?"

"They're the Shinoda family," Killer went on. "And they've been in existence for quite a while in South Blue, though they have the tendency to change locations every several decades. For years, rumors have been floating around about them having a headquarter right on this island. Some said that they've been here for a total of twenty years already. They control a major drug ring and smuggle and distribute thousands of pounds of illegal drugs all throughout this Blue, regulate alcohol trades, prostitution- clubs and harems-, illegal weapon trades and assassination services."

Kidd listened with wide eyes. "Under the marines' noses?"

"It's called 'bribery'."

The boy frowned.

"Don't be so surprise about it. I said before, corruptions are everywhere. The so-called justice of the World Government is nothing but a joke. Right now, all the yakuzas' underground activities are being hidden by their legal front store business that's helping the marines anyway, so it's hard to make a case against them."

"...What front store business?" Kidd asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The reason why we should make our stay short." Killer spun the wheel and a wave crashed against the side of the ship. "They're bounty hunters."

* * *

Half an hour later, they dropped their anchors by a rocky shore. Kidd, looked down at the place with distrust, scanning his eyes around them. Though this spot looked ordinary enough, he couldn't help but feel slightly disturbed by what was told to him earlier.

"Calm down," his asshole of a first mate who still refused to acknowledge him as captain said. "They're not hiding in dark corners waiting, moron."

He shot a glare in response to the insult. "I know, I'm not stupid," he grumbled, looking around again. "And why are we the only ones here? Isn't this island suppose to be a pirate hot spot?"

"Different pirate crews dock at different places around the island away from marine eyes," Killer explained. "But docking next to each other is unacceptable unless you're deliberately looking for a fight, and I have no intention of doing so here." He threw something at Kidd, and the boy caught it, looked down and blinked with shock. "Here's 500,000 beri."

He never had this much in his life before. He stared up at Killer, trying to see if the man was joking or not.

"Right now, it should be a little before ten O'clock," Killer said, as if there was nothing strange about handing someone such an amount. "Go and buy what you want, but be back here before sunset. Don't make me go looking for you and don't start anything."

Kidd nodded, still stunned.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of the city, looking from one shop to another with a smug-looking grin on his face, completely disregarding the strange looks that people were sending him. He hadn't the faintest idea of where to begin. He didn't want anything in particular, yet he wanted everything he saw. Only when he'd spot a dango stand and his stomach rumbled in response did he even move.

_Food_, the rumble said.

"One," he told the plumped middle-aged woman behind the counter, who looked rather taken back by his appearance before handing him his order.

"500 beri." He handed her the money and waited for the change. "You don't look like a part of the city. Are you a traveler by any chance?"

Kidd bit and chewed. "I sail," he replied lazily.

"I see... Name?"

"Eustass Kidd," he replied again.

"Well, it's always good to see a newcomer," the woman said with a warming smile. "Here's your money. Have a good day and come again!"

Kidd stuffed the change into his pocket and walked away, satisfied and a bit more settled. The people here looked friendly, though, he wished everyone would stop staring at him. Maybe Killer was right about the lipstick and the goggles- No, he scowled to himself for even thinking that. Killer wore a mask himself, that bastard had no right to judge him. He bit the last of the dangos and threw the stick away in a trash bin he'd passed, looking for his next destination.

Back by the dango stand, the woman pressed a button on a den-den mushi.

"What?" the snail head slurred.

"I think a new one just came in. He's a weird-looking boy with goggles, black lips and looks to be around eighteen or nineteen. His name is Eustass Kidd," she reported.

"Eustass Kidd... Let me see... B, C, D, E... Eu..." the snail mimicked the speaker on the other end. "Yes... Eustass 'Captain' Kidd of 35,000,000 beri. He's a new bounty head whose poster came out a week ago. Along with him should be 'Massacre Man' Killer of 25,000,000 beri."

She nodded back.

"Good job," it smiled an eerie smile. "See, a dango stand works perfectly fine. It's already the seventh time this month."

* * *

On the rooftop of the tallest building in Brecciame, the sound of a tiny engine coming alive fought the roaring wind. A dark figure sitting on the ground watched with dull black eyes as the robotic object began to advance towards him, its scissor hands opening and closing. Then the little fighting machine blinked red and turned left, where a moving wooden mannequin with wires hooked all over had begun running away. The figure watched with solitudinous contentment as they battled.

They moved too slow for his liking, but what could one expect from mechanic toys that only took an hour to think up and assemble? Not that these would be much of a hit with children and their parents. No, he merely made them to soothe his own muse.

"Hiroki-sama, there you are!"

The sitting figure slowly averted his head away from his source of entertainment.

"What?" he asked, a little smile on his otherwise expressionless face, his empty eyes watched the caller. The wind gently swayed his black hair.

The caller, a man in black suit, stopped ten feet from him and bowed forty-five degrees. "I was sent by Ane-san(2) to remind you of the meeting that Oyabun-sama(3) will be holding in thirty minutes."

"What's the meeting about?"

"Uh..." the underling scratched his head. "I believe that it concerns the shipment of the new model of pistols from that South Blue corporation..."

"Is that so?" Hiroki glanced back at his fighting toys, and picked up the losing mannequin from the ground before crushing the one with scissors for hands into pieces. "Then he doesn't need me there."

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of the underling's face. "Bu- But, you missed the last one as well, and Ane-san-"

"Please," the black-haired man closed his eyes and flung the mannequin aside, the smile disappeared for just seconds. "Like I'm listening to a word that bitch says." Then his lips curved upwards again. "But we can't have her hearing me calling her a bitch now, can we?" The man in suit shook his head, gulping nervously. "Just tell them that I'll be there."

"Hai!" the underling bowed, sounding relieved, and backed off away.

Hiroki stood up when he was gone, and pat away whatever particles that got stuck to his black kimono, the same Mona Lisa smile still present. "I _did_ say that I won't listen to the bitch, you know," he muttered. "That just ruined my day, how irritating. Why won't they just marry one of my sisters off?" He paused to rethink what he'd said. _That'd be terribly cruel wouldn't it? Yes it would._ "Hmph, I think I'll take a walk instead."

And care-freely, he stepped out of the building ten minutes later into the busy streets, ignoring the weary glances some nearby marines were giving him. They wouldn't try anything, he knew they wouldn't dare; lift a hand on him and they will be as good as dead.

On his way, he exchanged words with some girls who stopped him to chat, went into several shops to look at merchandises, and wandered up and down his favorite parts of the city. Truth to be told, even those favorite parts bored him; he'd been living on this island for years. Everything that could happen here, he'd already seen. Everything he was to learn about his family's business, he'd done so. The only things he really liked were the tool shops- the blacksmiths, the sword-sellers, et cetera.

He let wherever his feet took him that morning, and it led him away from the noisy crowds, away from the harbors and to the outer part of the island where criminals thought they had secretly docked their ships. Pirates, he had to laugh at them some times. The only reason why those savage animals weren't all wiped out the moment they stepped foot on the island was because the business might be hurt from bad rumors. Plus some of them didn't have bounties, and too many unnecessary kills would take up needed time and energy.

_Boring_, Hiroki thought to himself seeing nothing but rocky beaches and dirty ships, but he trusted his instincts.

Then, he saw it.

It was docked in another area far away- it'd taken him nearly ten minutes walking from the last ship to see it, but he saw it, and that was all that mattered.

What caught his eyes? A ship with blank flags.

He stared, allowing a little smirk.

A ship without a symbol meant an abandoned junk, though he had a thought that it was more likely that the owner had forgotten to put up a flag, as the junk itself still looked like it had been used recently. Still, too bad, so sad. A blank flag was a blank flag. An abandoned junk meant fun for him...

...To tear that thing apart and rebuild something new out of it, that was.

Without calling to see if anyone was onboard, he jumped on.

"My, my," he muttered, looking around, shaking his head at the broken rails, the holes in the walls and the huge gushes in the middle of the decks, as if there had been fights on it. The repairs were mediocre at the best... No, scratch that; it sucked. The ship itself was quite big- enough to carry around a hundred men. Plenty of raw materials, but the end product could be smaller and more efficient than this ancient.

"Now, let me find the repairing equipments and get started."

* * *

Kidd found out that he didn't like buying things as much as he thought he would. It had to be at least an hour and a half since he'd ventured into the city, and there wasn't a thing on his hands.

No weapons interested him- and he had his sword by his side. He'd already eaten to his satisfaction. Clothes? Clothes are for sissies and girls. And no, he did not care if he was being sexist. Worse than all that, he kept receiving those looks for people and that just made him want to snap something nasty at them and pick a couple of fight. But remembering Killer's words, he kept his mouth shut, hands to himself. He was wanted, and it'd be the best if he didn't draw any attention from those yakuza bounty hunters.

_Or the marines,_ he added.

Unfortunately, trouble seemed to adore him lately.

He turned a corner into a narrow alleyway between two shops, planning to take the shortcut to get to the parallel street, and was unexpectedly surrounded by three men. He gave them a look, trying to not look mean about it, but it was hard. They weren't big men, very normal looking, in fact.

"You're in my way," he drawled, continue walking, and stopped when none of them reacted. "Did you hear me? You're in my way. Move."

"Eustass Kidd?" the one to the right said.

He frowned. "Do I know you?"

The one in the middle took something from his pant pocket and held it in front of him. It was his bounty poster.

_Oh,_ he grimaced with realization. _They got me already?_

He glanced behind him, thinking that maybe he could run out to where he'd came from, only to see two more already standing there, blocking the way. His attention was forced to the ones in front of him as one slammed a fist against the concrete wall, creating a massive dent.

Kidd's eyebrows furrowed, and he slowly grinned, boredom starting to wear off.

_Heh, Keep out of fights?_ He drew his saber, getting more and more excited. _Sorry Killer, that's not going to happen now._

"You're from that yakuza group, right?"

"Yes," the middle man, apparently the leader, said. "You have two choices; come with us quietly, or we can have it the hard way."

"I have a sword out, do you think that I'm going to take it easy?" he sneered.

The man peered down with the most expressionless face that Kidd had ever seen. _Are bounty hunters normally like this?_ he thought to himself, feeling threatened. The boy flexed his sword and tensed his body.

A click.

_It's a gun!_ And he dodged, letting the bullet wheezing past him, hitting the stomach of another yakuza. The bullet bounced off the man, and he could heard clanking of metal; a bullet-proof vest.

_An ordinary sword's not going to work on him either. Not to mention that the tiny space won't work for me.  
_

_Now it's time to run._ He grabbed an arm and_ twisted_, and took the advantage of the distraction and zoomed towards the streets outside. Once in the open, he stopped, grinned evilly at the coming bounty hunters.

"Get him!"

All of the sudden, Kidd was rammed on the side, throwing him off balance. He hit the ground, the rough texture bruising his skin and he rolled aside as the attacker fired three quick shots in a row at where he was before. He stabbed his sword upwards and sliced, hearing the unpleasant sound of skin ripping and screaming.

Turned around and struck another enemy.

_Good thing that Killer stopped going easy on me during training,_ he thought, running around the streets and stabbing all who were running towards him with suspicious and strange weapons; most civilians ran into hiding the moment the fight had begun. The bounty hunters, however, were everywhere. They were fast and skilled, unlike the crew of bastards he'd been with.

Something flew by his cheek, missing his head by millimeters, burning his skin. He hissed with annoyance at another round of firing, every single one of them missing.

Most of all, they had guns.

_What the fuck am I suppose to do about bullets? They're too small to just cut or knock away!_

BAM! BAM! BAM!

_And they're fucking loud as hell!_

"What are you doing? Don't let the boy get away! He's worth thirty-five million beri!"

Kidd's eyes glanced at the glasses-wearing speaker and punched two lunging men down as he ran. _The marines don't even interfere? Guess the yakuza group here really sank their teeth firm. _

BAM!

He didn't see it coming.

The bullet sped for him, he felt his stomach drop with panic.

_No, back! BACK!_

It was going to hit! It was-_  
_

Just before it could hit, it stopped in midair and Kidd felt a tingle within himself, almost the feeling as if he'd been electrocuted, but it didn't hurt. The freeze lasted for one second, and it reverted direction. The shooter didn't even have time to be surprise when his own bullet blew up in his face.

Kidd widened his eyes. _What?_ He jumped out of the way as he heard another fire. What did he just do?

"HIIYAAA!" The side of a hand slammed against his back with the war cry.

Kidd growled as he hit the ground again and carelessly let go of his grip on the sword, which the crier kicked aside. _Damn it! You son of a-_ And just as he tried to get up, he found out something that made his blood run cold; he couldn't move. Around him, clicking of guns could be heard, and trying to look up as much as he was able to, he made out that they were all pointing at him, gathered in a circle.

But he couldn't _move!_

"What did you do to me?" he snarled at the sunglasses-wearing man who'd attacked him.

They began to snicker at his current condition, and Kidd founded this scenario all too familiar for his liking, recalling what Cross Blades had put him through. His expression was one of utter rage as the man above him put on an iron four finger ring with spikes and cracked his knuckles. He tried to twitch his hand, trying to reach for his sword. Why couldn't he _move_?

"Don't beat him to death, Aniki!" someone shouted. "It's thirty percent off the bounty if we don't bring him in alive!"

"I know," Sunglasses said with a smirk, one hand reached out and snagged the paralyzed boy off the ground.

"Let me go, bastard!" Kidd turned his murderous eyes downwards. "And undo whatever you did!"

The corner of the man's mouth lifted further up. "Sorry, kid, but bounty-hunting is business. Your partner, Massacre Man, is suffering the same, I imagine."

_They got Killer, too_! He widened his eyes and bared his teeth_. No, that's impossible! Even if they do get Killer, that bastard wouldn't be captured by the like of them! _"That's never going to happen, you pile of shit!" he spat.

"Oh hoho," the pile of shit grinned. "You're pretty tough for someone who's about to died-"

"Aniki, we're not suppose to kill him!" someone reminded.

"I know, baka!" Sunglasses barked, then reverted his attention back to the captive with a more serious, almost grieved face. "'Captain Kidd', you put up a good fight. As an honorable member of the Shinoda family, I bid you goodbye and a well afterlife-"

"Aniki!"

"Shut your trap, insolent retards!" he barked once more. "I'm not gonna kill him!"

Kidd's boiling rage, however, was not even brushed by the short comic relief provided. It continued to grow stronger and stronger as he screamed for his muscles to move, only to recieve no answer, no twitch. By then, he wasn't even thinking about what the man had done. The only thing that was mattering was the anger. He was starting to see red, feeling the air around him crackle.

Normally air could not crackle, but he was too mad to pay heed to that detail. Too mad, because even though he knew that Killer would be safe, they were talking shit about the person that only _he_ may talk shit about. Too mad because he'd been captured.

At the edge of the circle, some gripped their sharp swords and daggers down as they felt them rattling by their sides, thinking it was rather strange. But their attention were all pulled away as their aniki began his show.

With a big teeth-showing grin, Sunglasses tossed Kidd up, swung-

And completely missed.

Pain shot in every fiber of Kidd's body as he hit the ground.

"Huh?" the ring wearer mused with puzzlement, staring at the air in front of him as though something was wrong with it, then at the ring around his fingers.

"Aniki, do you need our help?"

"No, I don't 'need your help'!" he barked for the third time, but stopped when he felt a hand gripping the back of his coat.

"Oi, watch out-"

BOOM! Sunglasses' sunglasses broke into pieces as his head collided with the ground, shattering both his skull and the solid cement. Every member of the gang froze with astonishment as their supposed target stood up with a dark shadow over his eyes, flexing his aching arms and hands.

"H- He broke the ground?" someone choked.

"Aniki!"

"...I think he's dead. That brat killed Aniki!"

Kidd glared at them. "I don't know what the fuck was that son of a bitch trying to pull earlier," he whispered harshly, wiping away droplets of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Pretty pathetic for stunt, but one thing for sure-" "EVERYONE, POSITION!" "...Now, let me finish, will you?" "AIM!"

_Shit!_ Kidd growled as all rifles and pistols clicked as once. He was surrounded in a circle with nowhere to run. _There is no fucking way that I can dodge all of them!_

"FIRE!" BOOM!

At the same time, Kidd felt something trigger within himself. It came from the core of his being, traveling outwards and nanoseconds later, tingled his skin just in time as the bullets came for him. He watched, anger completely taken over by bewilderment as they stopped, floated in the air, then flew back to hit their shooters. The air in front of him crackled and sizzled with purple-colored electricity.

The innermost bounty hunters who got hit in the face fell down. Bullets bounced off metal vests, and the ones who were standing could only watch what had happened clueless and frightened as their brothers perished.

Their faces spelt out Kidd's thought; what the hell happened?

He lifted up his hand and saw remnants of the purple electricity there. It tingled, but it didn't hurt. _It's me? Impossible._

He held the hand up. _What am I doing?_

"What the hell is up with his hand?" a yakuza shouted, backing off.

The ground shook. Windows shattered. Doors broke. They all screamed as objects fell on them and stabbed them, some coming sideways; knives, nails, chairs, keys, guns, poles, anything and everything with metal. Inside their own homes, civilians screamed as well. Within moments, the streets were in a catastrophe.

Everything headed for Kidd. The boy quickly dropped his hand and his eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen and-

* * *

Half an hour earlier, Killer was wandering in the part of the city not half a mile away from where Kidd would be. Getting from here to Meridiano would take some mere two to three days. Of course, this meant that Weibel, his home island, was somewhere nearby too, but it was in a different direction. A reminder of his mother's grave in their family garden crossed his mind, and he brushed it away along with an image of his old grandfather. He hadn't been homesick in four years, and there was no reason to start now that they were prepared to sail for Grand Line.

Another reasons to be alert would be the eyes that kept following him from dark corners and second floors of housings. They'd been following him for the past hour now, and he'd carefully avoided using routes where there weren't civilians around all the while worrying about a certain idiotic captain's safety; if they got him, chances were that they had their eyes on Kidd as well.

He stopped in two more shops, one for limes and the other for books.

They still followed him.

_I don't think that they'll give up unless I give in or fight,_ he decided. _But if I fight, it can't be here. I have to lead them to a place where I can kill them without attracting marine attentions._ His eyes scanned his surrounding, looking for an appropriate spot or at least a map. Then it came to him.

_Our docking place. Why not? I'm done with shopping anyway._

He turned a corner and went towards the direction of the ship.

* * *

Strange, he'd been walking along the rocky beach for fifteen minutes now, yet no one ambushed him.

Killer stopped and listened for any movements. There were faint sound of a fight going on, but here, he detected no shadow, no noise besides his own footsteps and the waves crashing against the shore. Had they quit following him? He wondered why.

_No matter, I'll head for the ship regardless. I'll just wait for that baka until sunset, and if he isn't back by then, I'll look for-_

He leaned back at the sight of their ship, or what was left of it.

All their things were set aside by a huge stone, and one by one, floorboards were tossed out as well.

Someone was taking their ship apart.

Killer narrowed his eyes and set aside his purchases, hands taking his twin scythes from their sides. The throwing of the floorboards stopped immediately; the intruder had sensed him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my ship?" he growled at the silence. "Get out of your hiding place, I'll cut you into pieces!"

The wind blew. Nothing answered for seconds.

Then he spot movements. A person stood up and looked down at him with arms relaxing on the rail of the ship. The person, a man with lifeless black eyes and wind-blown black hair, stared at him with a little smile on his face and cocked his head to the left. "Now now," he said calmly to the pirate. "There is no need for violence."

"What are you doing to my ship?" Killer rephrased his first question again.

The other man glanced twice around him and jumped down, landing on his feet swiftly. He was wearing a traditional black kimono that made Killer thought that he was an old-fashion swordsman at first. The fact that he was without a sword dismissed that idea. "Your ship?" he mused. "Really? Aren't the flags and sails blank? This is a junk ship, nii-san- You're older than me, right? I'm twenty-three, but since I can't see your face, I can't tell. May I call you nii-san?"

Killer did not bother telling him that he was twenty-one. "Answer my question!"

"How hostile. As I said, this is not your ship. I can do whatever I want with it."

His began spinning his scythes. "Wrong answer."

The masked man threw the roped weapon and the man jumped away, making the blade strike the side of the ship. He didn't care, a little matter like that could've been fixed, but the entire ship was ruined.

"Please don't damage the raw materials," the black-haired man said.

Killer did not listen, and with a push of his heel he ran for his opponent with top speed. His reaching scythes broke a large stone into pieces, but the other man got away. "Is dodging all you can do?" he growled.

The smiling face remained unchanged.

He attacked again.

The man's movements reminded him very much of swaying grasses; he'd dodge every swing, every slash that Killer delivered, constantly backing away until the masked man actually felt frustration for the first time in his life while fighting an enemy- an enemy who couldn't be attacked, yet at the same time, refused to attack.

"_Point Eighty-Seven._"

_What?_

And he could not move.

His scythes fell out of his grip.

"Sorry," the man apologized. "You're disturbing my work. Don't worry though, it's only temporary. You'll recover eventually."

"What did you do to me?"

"Nothing big." His little smile grew wider. "I merely disrupted a nerve point in your body. It's Chii Jutsu, a family martial art."

Killer struggled to move, earning an unsuccessful result. "Let me go, and don't touch my ship."

"I can't do that. If you want the ship that badly, then you should've put a flag up."

_Damn it, how am I suppose to rebut that? I'm the one who took the flags down in the first place, and Kidd never even thought of making his own Jolly Roger during the trip so I didn't bother._

_I'll just have to take him down then, but how am I suppose to do that when I can't move? This is bad._

His finger twitched.

_It's wearing off._

"You should've just draw a crap picture for a flag; that way at least I'd know that it's claimed," the other man went on. "Or at least leave a ship guard; this is a vessel big enough to carry over a hundred, surely you must have someone who'd watch the ship. But, when I got here, everything is so empty. I feel as if the ship want to die, and what better to recreate something else out of-"

Free!

Killer gripped the other's shoulder and threw him onto the ground, quickly picked up one scythe by his feet and had it by the black-haired man's throat before either one of them finished a blink.

The expression went from a startling one back to the signature smile.

"That was fast."

Killer was about to open his mouth to reply when sounds of shattering glasses and people screaming came from afar. "Hm?"

It was the fight he'd heard from minutes back, but somehow, he got the feeling that something was really, really wrong.

_Kidd...?_

Attention completely off his captive, he raced towards the unusual noises.

Minutes later, he came upon the source and could only stare with horror.

Dead bodies were lying all around the streets mixed with pieces and shards of glasses and what looked to be like the kitchen appliances of every household. Windows in buildings were smashed, and unlike minutes before, there were no sound at all. It looked nothing short of an apocalypse.

But what made this all worse was the fact that Kidd stood in the middle of all this, knives and glasses sticking out of his body.

"KIDD!"

He ran towards the boy, who slowly turned his trembling head towards Killer. The masked man caught him just in time before he could fall down.

"Did you do this?" he hissed.

"Ye- Yes..."

"How the fuck-"

"Maybe it's not the time now to be asking question." Killer whirled around to find the black-haired man standing some good ten feet away. "You might want to start by pulling all the things out of his body first. I know a place where he can safely stay and heal, since the marines will be looking for the troublemakers, right?" Behind his mask, he narrowed his eyes with distrust. "I may be lying, but why not take a chance? Would you rather him die?"

* * *

Hiroki watched with satisfaction as the masked stranger obeyed his suggestions. Somewhere in his mind, pieces were connecting and fitting with each other, the picture incomplete but in progress.

With one last careful pull, the blond dug out the last of the knives and picked up the redheaded boy bridal style.

_So he's going along with this._

"Very well," he said. "I'll lead the way."

He averted his eyes towards the closest hiding place of an underground route he could find. Just as he was about to walk, something tugged at his leg. He stopped and glanced down.

One of the lower-ranked subordinate held his ankle tight.

"Hiro- Hiroki-sama," the man wheezed, almost inaudible. "Those people... are targets... What are you-"

He stomped a foot down on the man's chest, silencing him forever.

He looked back at the masked stranger, who had stopped to observe this performance.

"Let's go."

* * *

Kidd had fallen asleep.

"He lost a lot of blood. Shallow wounds and every single one of them missed his vital arteries and organs," their ship-wrecker said, "He's quite lucky. Recovery should take about two to three days." He gazed at Killer. "See, I didn't lie. Now if you'll be so kindly to remove that scythe from my neck-"

"Not a chance," the masked man snapped back.

"...Really."

Killer by now knew that this person wasn't normal. A regular man couldn't have a blade pressed against his throat and be so laid back. Along with their fight earlier where he'd stopped Killer's movement, claiming to have hit a nerve point, with that mysterious little carefree smile of his, the blond's suspicion was heightened when he'd heard the near-death man calling him 'Hiroki-sama.' That man- now dead- was no doubt a part of the yakuza family.

"Who are you?"

"Who? Me?" The corners of the smiling lips lifted unnoticeably higher. "Pardon my poor manner, I didn't realize that I haven't introduced myself yet. How rude!"

"Get on with it!"

Was that a chuckle? Killer pressed the blade down harder.

"My name is Shinoda Hiroki, the sole son and heir of the Shinoda-kai." He turned his head around a gave the masked man the smallest smirk. "You're Massacre Man 'Killer' right? You and your captain's bounties are quite tempting, I imagine."


	15. A Trick, A Meeting, A Discussion

**Author's Note:** Loads of thanks to _ChibiFluffy, Stefi-chanKonaKona, Msaju17,_ and _allycat18_ for reviewing! *Hugs* And is this the longest period between updates or what? I'm seriously sorry. -_-'

(1)Okaa-san- 'Mother', usually called by the child.

* * *

The reaction was instant.

A lamp smashed into pieces as Killer's single rotating scythe collided with it. The next came a table, then a chair, and soon, gushes lined two sides of the walls as he continued to aim at the enemy, missing over and over again.

"Please calmed down-" _Strike!_

The pleadings- spoken in the same monotone that the other man had used to talk with him- had no effect. Killer felt, and was positive of his instincts, that if he didn't kill this person right then and there, Kidd and him would never get off this island alive. The most powerful yakuza family of South Blue wasn't something to be underestimated, and right in front of him was the son of their don. What would happen to them if he couldn't finish this nuisance off was obvious.

He hit again, this time nearly missing the white bed.

Two fingers pressed down on Kidd's forehead, and Killer froze.

"Move and the boy goes."

_Shit._ He clenched his teeth together and slowly lowered his weapon. "Get your hand off of him," he said coldly.

Hiroki stared at him in the eyes. "Sadly, that's not for you to decide, Killer-kun. Do sit down, we were just beginning our discussion."

"I have nothing to say to you. Get your hand off him," he repeated.

"No."

Once again, he lifted up the scythe and pointed towards the yakuza, who merely narrowed his lifeless black eyes and tapped Kidd's skull twice, stopping him in mid-motion. "Might I tell you how easy is it for me to make a human skull cave and break? Bones are very weak, believe it or not. Your captain can have a very quick death if I choose for him to."

"He's not my captain!" Killer said stubbornly.

"Really?" No change in expression, as if he wasn't surprise at all. "How weird, since your bounty posters claimed the exact opposite. But that might have just been a glitch on the marines part. Sadly, that wouldn't make a difference if I were to turn you both in." He looked down at the sleeping redhead. "Of course, killing him would take thirty percent off his bounty, and killing you would result in the same. Too bad, you made me resort to this tactic when I don't need to. Though, Papa would be pissed if I mess with his victims, you poor things..."

The masked man stepped closer, muscles tensed.

"However, I already did, it can't be helped now." He tapped the forehead again. "So, please listen to me. I'm that sure you'll like my terms; after all, it involves the safety of you both."

"Give me one good reason of why I should trust you," Killer snarled.

"You shouldn't," Hiroki answered, plain and simple. "But I haven't lied to you so far, have I?"

No, he hadn't. That was true. Still, this man belonged to an organized group who's controlled so much of South Blue's economic circle and definitely played a role in the local autonomy. Trust him, or not. He pulled back his scythes for the... he'd lost count. Normally, he had no problem killing an enemy off. Yet, he knew that if he didn't listen, death was a surefire fate. Not by this one yakuza, but easily the rest of the group. Take a chance, what was the worst that could happen?

"That's better." Again, like all previous times, the voice was completely void of any emotion. "Take a seat, Killer-kun."

He sat down.

_Click._

_What?_

Killer turned his head down to see his limbs cuffed. _Where did these come from?_ His heart raced with panic as, with a push of button that Killer hadn't noticed before, bars and cuffs snapped around Kidd's body as well. "You..." he hissed.

"Now this is a lot better," the black-haired man said. "Not bad, don't you think? This is my special room. Everything here is designed and made by me; I know exactly how everything operates." His stoic smile grew softer. "I'm a mechanic, engineer, designer, inventor, builder, architect... Call my interests whatever you want, I suppose."

"What are you going to do to us, bastard?" the masked man said with a harsh undertone.

Hiroki stared at him for a minute, then without saying a word, he began heading for the closed door.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" he demanded.

The yakuza turned the handle. "It's been nearly two hours. Papa will wonder where I've gone. If I don't turn up soon, he'll get suspicious and think I've ran away; he'd very paranoid about that, since I'm his only son." He turned around to face a maddened Killer. "Meanwhile, why not enjoy yourselves in here, and maybe plan out an escape/killing me plan," he mocked. "I'll be back no later than tomorrow noon, and we'll continue our little conversation. And maybe if we're lucky, your 'captain' can join too."

The door opened, and moments later, closed, leaving only the Massacre Man and Kidd in the room.

_Shit,_ Killer cursed. _We're not even in Grand Line and this already happened. _He looked at the boy sleeping on the bed, and made a mental note to himself of beating the daylight out of him once the brat wakes up, if they could manage to escape, that is.

* * *

The shaggy-haired man crouching by the door gave a frightful scream as something harshly poked his knee, and looked up to gaze into the face of his young master. Faster than light, he stood at attention immediately, bowing. "Welcome back, Hiroki-sama!" he greeted as the composed man glided past him.

"Next time, don't slack on guarding duty."

"Ha- Hai, your guidance is most appreciated!"

_Really,_ Hiroki thought wistfully to himself as he gave the guard a glance, making the poor guy jump again. _What good do they think sweet-talking me will do when they're obviously scared shitless... And that too, I'm not a cannibal, I won't eat them alive. What a bunch of idiots... However, _he let his attention go and walked onward, _somebody else definitely will if I don't turn up soon._

He stopped in the middle of the room just feet away from a circle of couches around a glass table, where two middle-aged man and a woman sat. One wearing the marine coat that spelled his status as a captain with tense jaw lines, the other in a dark-red fur coat with spikes lining down from the shoulder wearing a rather optimistic expression that turned sour when he sensed Hiroki's presence. The single woman pressed her lips thin at the sound of his footsteps and turned her head around, her sharp eyes raked his being.

Hiroki gave a little bow.

"Good afternoon, Papa, Ane-san," he said. "And Pancho-dono, is it? Long time no see."

"It's Pinacho," the marine captain corrected with a growl to the back of his voice.

"Sorry, Pinacho-dono." And he looked over at the face of his father and found it indeed to be full of disgruntlement. He took a seat. "What's wrong, Papa?"

"You missed the meeting," Shinoda Chiyo snapped before her husband even opened his mouth. "When I clearly informed that you were to be there!"

"Sorry Ane-san, but I had an expedition planned which was going to start that very minute," he said so coolly that one would think that he was talking to a stranger. "Please refrain from interfering with my personal schedule from now on."

Shinoda Takamaru slammed a hand down before a glaring contest could start. "Don't talk to your mother like that! And she's right, you know! How did you think I looked in front of other people without my heir by my side? Preposterous! They were thinking of how ridiculous I am- a parent, a yakuza leader, who cannot keep his own kins under control!" He bounced up- for the lack of better words- dramatically and pointed an accusing finger at his son. "Damn you, Hiroki! I taught you better than that!"

No reaction.

The man with the red coat slumped back down and sighed with serious grief seeing the blank, impassive face of the youngest man. "Chiyo, we'll be having a little man-to-man moment here. Leave."

For a minute it seemed as if she was about to protest. "I got it," she muttered finally, and strolled out of the room. A click, and the door closed.

Another sigh from his old man. "Listen my son, someday you'll have to take over me, like I did my father and like him before me- this family business has been ongoing for six generations; how many times have I told you that..."

Hiroki gingerly picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of the green, herb-smelling drink. "Maki is taking an interest in that archduke of that kingdom by-" A look from his father silenced his words. "I get it, I get it. We can't get royalties involved with the group. Once nee-sans get married with outsiders, they're to cut ties with us." He put in two spoonful of sugar and swirled his drink. "Makes me wonder why Ane-san wouldn't make one of them marry someone in the family."

"And you quit with the 'Ane-san' shit. She's your mother-"

"Step, Papa, step. Please don't dishonor Okaa-san(1) just because she was a mistress."

Takamaru gave him a long stare before sighing for the third time in five minutes, and eventually gave up.

The youngest man took a sip and stared at his elders again. "What were you talking about before I interrupted?"

"The upcoming yearly inspection by the higher-ups," Pinacho grunted, disregarding the repetitive performance from the family- he'd seen such for many times over the years.

"I see..." Hiroki observed the face of the marine captain. He'd never liked the man- not that he liked anyone very much- but since he had to be around Pinacho so much because of business, that mild dislike turned strong. Not enough into hate. No. He hardly hated anyone in his life.

But back to topic; Pinacho was a coward with the perfect face of a dictatorial, tough soldier that could make people believe his every word. More of a politician than a warrior, but one supposed that in order to be powerful in this era, one had to participate in crime fighting. Right now, even with that tense jaw, the face was admirably formidable. Though beneath that face, Hiroki knew that he was trembling with fear.

"What's so different this year?" he questioned. "We clean up, hid, and wait until they leave. If they see anything, we stuff some beri into their mouths, and if they still squeal, we kill them. It's as simple as that."

"It would've been as simple as it until two hours ago," Takamaru snapped. "Now some pirates left an entire part of the city in ruins and over fifty people dead- not counting our own men-, and words have already gotten out to the press. How are we suppose to cover that up?"

_It's because of them?_ The son narrowed his eyes as his mind flashed back to his two prisoners he had held captive underground.

"Blame it on the pirates."

"If we can find them, but they've disappeared and good chances are that we'll get scapegoated," his father growled. "The South Blue government has been trying to find a legitimate reason to arrest us and imprison us in Impel Down for good ever since our creation! They've jailed your grandfather a couple of times, but we always managed to bail him out. They haven't got me yet and I don't plan on it. Damn sea scums!" His eyes narrowed and the two others felt the aura around him growing darker and more dangerous.

Pinacho had gone still, and Hiroki himself drew further back against the couch and took a deep breath. His father hated pirates- and he found that ironic; being a criminal, how could his father hated another form of crime when himself was wrongdoing more than most of them? However, pirates were indeed stupid, that, the son could agree.

"All they've been are nuisances ever since that bastard Roger pulled his little stunt before his execution. How much trouble had they cost this family?" Takamaru continued. "I've been wanting to expand into Grand Line ever since my old man kicked the bucket; I'm sick and tired of the Blues. In the Pirate's Graveyard there are abundant numbers of target consumers to be found. Hell, I've tried once before, but now..." He clenched his fist, and Hiroki could hear the crackling of rock breaking apart. Fine, grain-sized pebbles fell onto the carpeted floor seconds later. "Now it's all them! It's all because of those pirates that I wasn't able to proceed with my plan! Sure I gained a power but it was a Pyrrhic victory, a curse even! It's all because of them that Grand Line became impossible for me, especially _that_ band of bastards!"

"Please control your temper, Papa," Hiroki chided. "It wouldn't do good for anything or anybody if you lose it, you know. And we have a guest here too." He looked at the marine captain, who'd gone pale.

But his father wasn't listening. "When I find those hooligans, I'll crush them!" He pounded a stone-hard fist onto the glass table, literally, breaking it into millions of pieces of all sizes.

"Papa," he snapped in a louder, firmer voice. "Calm down!"

"Hmph. " The yakuza boss looked around the room as if something would answer him. Pinacho's hands were quivering and beads of sweat lined his tense forehead, though he still managed to compose himself. "Say... did you see any shadows of them around the city, Hiroki? The two are called Eustass 'Captain' Kidd and 'Massacre Man' Killer. You were looking at new bounty posters three days ago, weren't you?"

Hiroki settled down the cup of tea in his hand, badly wanted to smirk but pushed away the temptation.

"_Three_ days ago?" he replied innocently, remembering reviewing a stack of bounties four days ago. "No, I wasn't."

* * *

Kidd knew that he was on a bed, and he also knew that something was very, very wrong. In fact, after ten seconds of wiggling around, he understood exactly what, and opened his eyes.

"We're trapped," he said.

"Glad you notice," Killer snapped back.

His pupils averted sideways towards his first mate with a scowl. "I thought that you're strong enough to take care of them."

"I could've," the masked man said, irritated. "Except a certain someone can't comprehend the words 'don't draw attention' and got me involved."

Kidd snorted. "How much do you want to bet that you're the one who got us into this with your damn conspicuous mask? And I was acting like a normal tourist, they're the ones who tried to pick a fight with me in the first place. You want me to just give up and let them put me in cuffs? I don't think so!" _Besides,_ he added in his head, _I was bored to death anyway._

"Yet, you ended up destroying half of the city and nearly got yourself killed," Killer pointed out.

"It was nowhere near half of the city!"

"Close enough, you still exposed yourself to the enemy when I told you not to!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" the boy snarled, squirming to get free in his confinement and had little result. "And what about you, huh? Even if I did expose myself I killed every single one of those bastards before you stepped in! Why couldn't you have taken me to the ship instead of letting us get captured?" He glared. "That is, I _assume_ that you're not dumb to the point of tying both of us up like this on our own ship."

Silence.

_Hah!_ Kidd boasted with triumph. _What do you have to say to that?_

Killer answered minutes later. "You saw that man standing before you lost consciousness?"

"You mean the one with that weird clothes?"

"It's call a kimono, uneducated ruffian," he said dryly, and went on before Kidd could make a comeback. "He's the one who has us."

"And?"

More silence. It seemed as if Killer was trying to find a way to explain the situation. The captain raised a brow high as the masked man took a deep breath and began. "I found him tearing apart our ship; it was already half disintegrated by him by the time I got back, and we were fighting until I was distracted by your... little controversy. He made a deal with me that he'll shelter us until you heal. I was careful, but he tricked me and it ended up like this." He lifted his head up. "He's the son of the Shinoda family's don."

Kidd's face morphed from attentive to outrage and smugness. "So it _is_ your fault, you damn hypocrite! I took care of the easy weaklings, but you just had to bring their second-in-command to us. Now we're both gonna be executed and we haven't even stepped foot into Grand Line."

"Shut up, baka, you're still the idiot who ended up destroying half a city."

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead. "I told you, it's not half a city, it was only a couple of streets!"

"That's not the point," Killer said. "What the hell did you do anyway?"

"How the fuck should I know!"

"How the fuck can you not know?" the blond shot back. "Anyone else would."

"Well _I_ don't!" Kidd shouted back, feeling blood flushing his face from anger and embarrassment. True, anyone else might have known, but the problem remained that he had no idea of what was the cause. If he didn't know the cause, how could he understand what he did? Though such an immature answer wasn't necessary.

"Describe it, then. At least one of us might figure it out," the masked man remarked.

He didn't want to; not obeying would definitely piss Killer off, something that sounded rather favorable at the moment. But he bit down the thought and his pride, and explained anyway.

"It felt like a tingle," he said. "And there was purple electricities in the air. I repelled bullets, and made things fly towards me with the raise of my hand." He inwardly winced at how unbelievably ridiculous his description sounded.

"That's not possible," Killer stated flatly.

"But that's what happened."

No more words were exchanged between them.

What could have occurred though? He was never able to do anything like those before. Then again, ever since he'd met the masked bastard, he did a lot of things he wouldn't have done half a year ago; picking fights that he could not have won, punching down trees with his bare fist, becoming a pirate, killing- and this time, there were civilians involved weren't there? He wondered how many died.

_Wait._

His face slackened as something dawned on him.

_..It's not a legend then? That's as impossible as my explanation but it's the only thing that made sense._

"Killer," he called out, breaking the silence. "Four days ago, I ate something."

"You mean the sweet and burnt fried tuna that you seasoned with sugar instead of salt?" the man drawled with sarcasm.

"At least that was edible!" Kidd barked.

"Hardly..."

_Why you..._ "You blew up the stove!"

"Che, it was your idea, so it was your fault."

No, Kidd decided to himself, holding down his vexation and bit back his comeback, he'll take care of this later. "...Back on topic, I found that damn fruit in that box on Cross-Blades' desk," he said.

"...There was a fruit in that box? He was so sure that it was gold."

"I ate it because I was hungry," he recalled. "It's shaped like an orange, had rubbery skin and whirls all over. It tasted really bad, like shit."

"That sounds like a Devil Fruit," said Killer. "You should've come to me the moment you had the suspicion."

Kidd was puzzled at the calm tone and immediate answer of the masked man. "Oi, why aren't you mad? I ate a Devil Fruit. Since it's real, then according to legends, I lost my ability to swim, right? And that thing could be sold for two hundred million beri at the very least."

"Mad?" Killer appeared to be amused. "No. It's true that you'll not be able to swim, but that would hardly be a problem since I can. Besides, that's quite an interesting power gained; make it to your advantage. The only thing I have to be mad about is the fact that you went into battle without testing your power first. That's plain suicidal."

_How could I test them if I know that I have them?_ Kidd wanted to retort back. _Never mind... _"So as far as things are now, getting off this island is out of question?"

"Yeah, that bastard wrecked our ship and tied us up."

Kidd stared at the ceiling. "What should we do then?"

* * *

_Bam, bam._

The rocky beach was quiet saved for the roaring of the sea and the sound of hammer pounding against hard wood and nails.

It went on until the coming morning.


	16. First Trap

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Fluffy, allycat18, poisonliz, doriansburial, _and _Msaju17_ for reviewing! :)

This arc ended up needing a lot of noting, simply because I'm basing it off a real thing in Japanese culture instead of making something up on my own. I apologize for that; I myself understand how annoying it is to have to read footnotes while reading actual stories, but it can't be helped. Japanese titles and honorifics are pretty specific. Trust me, it won't be this confusing later.

(1)Aruji-sama- " Husband" or "Master of the Household".

* * *

"Kaori, sit straight! Where are Maki and Rina?" Shinoda Chiyo barked at her second daughter, acute eyes scanning the room for her missing oldest and youngest girls. "They're supposed to be here for dinner. I told your father that I have an important announcement to make and everybody must be here!" _Especially my daughters, and _that _boy as well,_ she thought to herself. Like usual, Hiroki wasn't here either. "Kaori?"

"Nee-san is over at the hotel with her fiance. Rina went shell-hunting," Kaori answered quietly, her back hunched in a cowering position- hardly fitting for a child of a yakuza family. But the mother only shot her a stern, disapproving look; a girl was a girl. None of her daughters were in line as the next leader the family. How this one acted wouldn't matter at all unless Kaori marries someone within the group.

Kaori's shivering hand picked up a clean pair of chopsticks, and she began gripping it this way and that, lowering the ends to clink on the empty plate every once in a while, as if food would appear if she did it frequently enough.

"Stop that!" Chiyo commanded making the girl flinch and drop her utensils.

At the same moment, the door opened.

"Now, now, Ane-san, don't pick on Kaori-neesan like that."

_The bad apple of the tree has arrived,_ she sneered inside her head and veered to face the coming men. "You're late, Hiroki," she said coldly. "Aruji-sama(1), you're late as well."

Her husband waved it away with a carefree look on his face. Her step-son stood, smiling his vain little smile and challenging her piercing glares. "I told you to not interfere with my schedule, Ane-san," he said. "I was preoccupied with my studies and almost had a problem figured out when-"

"It would be nice if you shut up and drop the act once in a while," she cut off his rant. "Sit down."

"Geez," Takamaru drawled. "What could be so important that you need to pull me away from my nap and have an early dinner? It's only three in the afternoon, for Pete's sake!"

"Hello, Mama," her youngest daughter, Rina bowed at her, tagging behind her brother and her father. "Hello, Nee-san." Chiyo answered with a nod and looked back at Hiroki, who by now had turned his attention away from her and to the food the servants were bringing in.

The family one by one filled the dining table; Maki hadn't, not that it really mattered. The only two person that really needed to be presented were Takamaru and that bastard child whom she called step-son.

_I'll make this quick and easy._

"You're probably all wondering why I gathered you all here, right?" she began calmly. Her two daughters who were pushing the rice around their plates, stopped and focused at her with respect. The two men merely looked up from their food. "I'm pregnant."

Her husband absentmindedly nodded before the words registered, and when they did, he stopped chewing and stared at her with disbelief. Both Kaori and Rina blinked with surprise and exchanged nervous, wild looks.

"Congratulation," the younger man said.

Chiyo felt annoyance rising in her at the unruffled response from her step-son. _Doesn't he understand where I'm going with this? Even though it's his person, why isn't he going ballistic?_ "I went to the doctor, they told me that it's a boy." _Are you frantic now? Since you're the son of a mistress, this baby will take you out of the family completely because I am the wife, I hope you know that! _"I'm pregnant for three months now."

"Ah! That's a new crisis!" Takamaru sighed and stretched his fingers. The three women all turned to him, waiting for his words. "Well, problem solved."

Chiyo shot an expressionless Hiroki a look of triumph. The step-son did not return anything.

"You'll just have to abort it," the father casually finished.

Her smugness was instantly crushed. "WHAT?" She slammed a fist on the table, looking at her husband, who was picking his teeth at the moment, with absolute horror. "Do you understand what you're saying, Aruji-sama!"

"Of course I do," he said, taking a sip of his wine as his wife's chest heaved up and down with outrage. "It took me over twenty years to raise Hiroki into the perfect successor; it's a hell a lot of work, mind you! Then you came along pregnant with another son..." He looked around the room and sighed. "No, no, too troublesome. It's easier to abort it now lest my children start a civil feud and split the group up. One male heir is good enough, one!"

"That's a terrible thing to ask of a woman, Papa," Hiroki commented.

"You be quiet!" she screeched. By now, her pale face was red. "I am the wife! My son is obviously going to be the next leader of the family, not some damn child of a side woman! You can't make me give it up!"

Staring back and forth between a furious wife and an aloof son, Takamaru twirled the white wine his his glass and shrugged. "Lesson of the day, Hiroki, always use a condom."

That snapped just about every nerve inside Chiyo's body; the woman flung her plateful of food at him and smashed her wine glass into pieces, howling with pure rage. Her blazing eyes scanned each and every one of them, stopping seconds longer on Hiroki, before storming out of the room, leaving the four people sitting wordless, and some terrified. Takamaru burst into a fit of laughter five minutes later after she was gone, and slammed his hands up and down the table with delirious delight. Tears were even leaking out of his eyes as his children watched him.

"It's not that funny, Papa," his son said.

"No! No! It's hilarious! Did you see her? DID YOU? WAHAHAHA!" Finally, he settled down, a grin on his face.

"Are you really going to make her abort it?" Hiroki asked.

"Of course I am!" the father answered. "Why the hell should I waste another two decades just so I can raise another heir?"

"Poor Ane-san. She's been looking forward to taking charge of the family, hasn't she?"

He gave Hiroki a strange look. "What's so terrible about that, huh? Loss of time means a delay of money, which means a delay of power. We can't afford to be held back! Besides, why would you want a brother to compete with? Nothing good will come out of another son." He gulped down the remainder of his wine. "Now, we need to talk about those nosy marine inspectors coming in tomorrow and how to catch the two sea scums who're going to pay for everything..."

* * *

_Zzz. Zzz, zzz... Zzzzzz._

"Shit, it's not working; the metal won't even budge. I can't blast it apart," Kidd muttered, easing the crackling purple electricity.

"But at least we confirmed your power," Killer said, glancing around at all the misplaced metal objects lying randomly around the room, all which got to where they were due to Kidd's magnetic ability. "Not that it'd do much if we don't get out of here."

"When is that guy suppose to be back?"

"Who knows..."

"'Call the dragon, and the dragon comes."

Kidd sneered at the ceiling, completely oblivious to the speaker. "What the fuck? Was that suppose to be some wise proverb- HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET IN HERE?"

"He came from under the bed," Killer said flatly as the free man patted away dirt cheerfully. "I thought it looks suspiciously dark; why the hell would you crawl out of a hole when you can just come through the door?"

"Because I can," Hiroki reasoned.

The redhead's eyebrows furrowed with irritation, and he attempted to sit up. Why in the four Blues would anyone want to crawl out of a hole was beyond him. "Doesn't matter anyway," he growled. "Let us go, you damn yakuza!"

"Both of you are awake. Good," the yakuza said, flashing them a wider smile. "That made things a whole a lot simpler." He took a look around the mess of a room. "Wow, I leave you two here alone for one day and this happened... How did you manage this anyway?" The two prisoners glared dagger at him- at least he had a feeling that the Massacre Man was though it was impossible to tell with that mask on. "...No, never mind that. Now, let's see..." He scratched his head and sat down, crossing his legs and folding his hands together in a business-like manner. "We were talking about...Hm... I don't remember. So in that case, let's talk about something else. How about you two? A pirate's life must be exciting, with both of you having such high bounties. Any marines? Rival pirate crews?"

Kidd narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you just tell us what you're up to instead? Aren't you suppose to turn us in?"

"I'm afraid that would be another discussion for another time, Kidd-kun- Oh, speaking of you, Killer-kun told me that you're not captain, and strangely, your posters stated-"

"I am_ too_ his captain!" the captain snapped, glaring at his first mate, who snorted.

"You're one confusing pirate crew," Hiroki commented. "There are only the two of you yet you proclaimed yourselves as a crew, and such a big ship but you didn't even bother with a Jolly Roger... You're weird."

"Said the bastard who crawled out of a hole!" Kidd barked back.

The yakuza didn't seem to take that quite well. "There is nothing wrong with crawling out of a hole, for your information," he began. "In fact, tunnel-crawling proves to be an excellent exercise for your spine and limb muscles. It also allows you to get more used to darkness and have a better understanding of underground mineral and rock composition, also a lot regarding various critters that dwell there-"

"Nobody cares," the boy said.

"I do."

"That's because you're a nobody!"

"You'll regret calling me that, I guarantee," Hiroki said, his tone of voice way more civil than his words.

"Are you threatening me?" Kidd scoffed.

"Hai, be very afraid."

'_Be very-' _A vein popped. "I'm going to beat the living hell out of you-"

"Enough is enough." A wave of frigid air washed through the room as soon as Killer said the command, and the two arguing ones stopped, one sitting up straighter and turning to the speaker, the other's face transformed into a murderous, dissatisfied expression. "We've wasted enough time with your fruitless chit-chatting."

Hiroki observed the masked man with new interest. "That's quite an impressive ability you've got there. The blow almost felt like an invisible cold wave of wind, yet, you did nothing."

"None of your business," Killer shot back.

"Now, now, there's no need to be rude. I merely want to acquaint myself with someone not in the family," the yakuza said, smiling. "It's not every day we get pirates like you. So, tell me about yourselves."

Silence.

Hiroki chuckled when neither of them spoke. "Aren't you a shy duo? Perhaps I should pick our conversation?" His smile widened. "You are heading for Grand Line aren't you?"

"We're going after One Piece," Kidd answered, giving the black-haired man a look. "I'm going to become the next Pirate King." He frowned as said man closed his eyes. _Is that bastard snickering at me? How dare he! _"Stop laughing! I'll kill you!"

The smiling lips curved into a full bloom smirk as Hiroki opened his eyes, the once dull pupils glinted with strange lights. "The next Pirate King?" he mused. "Now, Papa will really hate you." He sat back, eyes darting from one pirate to another. "You two caused a lot of trouble for us; the destruction of five city blocks. The deaths and casualties of forty of our people, and the deaths of over fifty civilians put us in a lot of trouble with the South Blue government. All of this could be solved if I turn you in. Your fates are in my hand, understand?"

"What are your terms?"

"Killer-"

"Shut up!" The masked man snapped to Kidd. "This isn't the time."

Hiroki turned to the angry boy. "Are you really his captain?"

"Shut up, bastard!"

The yakuza sighed at the uncreative response. "Really...Fine, fine..." He got up from his chair and walked towards the door. Just in the range of the handle, he stopped and raised a hand, pressing a finger into the wall. A square caved into the wall and both of his captives froze.

"What did you just do?" Kidd demanded.

He opened door, turned halfway around, and waved. "This room will self-destruction in exactly four minutes and fifty-three seconds. Good Luck."

The redhead widened his eyes and thrashed against his confinement. "No! I'll murder you!" he screamed. "COME BACK RIGHT NOW, YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A MOTHERFU-"

The door closed before Hiroki could hear the last syllable.

_Hehe._

* * *

"...Damn it!" Kidd snarled, cold sweats running down his body as he took one deep breath after another, fuming with rage. "I'll make him wish that he wasn't born!" Out the corner of his eyes, if he was paying attention, he would've noticed Killer struggling against cuffs that held him to his place as well, but having little luck in freeing himself.

A clock counting down to zero was ticking in the masked man's head nonstop, his heart pounded like crazy, completely neglecting his raging captain- whom he still didn't acknowledge. They couldn't afford to die here, they _couldn't_!

_Break!_ He willed the metal cuffs as he pulled upwards as hard as he could, clenching his jaws. _Break, break! Break-_

A metal U-shaped bar flew crashed against the wall behind him, bringing him away from concentration, and he looked up to see a murderous-looking Kidd prying away the bar that held his neck down with his left hand, throwing it aside.

_...You little piece of shit, why couldn't you have done that before?_ Killer thought as he watched the deranged boy ripping the bed sheet apart like a maniacal animal, and minutes later, falling down on the ground with a heavy thud, free of all imprisonment. A pool of vexation rose within him at the sight. _How many times have I told him to get his temper under control? He can't exert this kind of power so blindly!_

Kidd headed for him, looking a little more sober than earlier.

"There should be a button somewhere on the seat," he told the boy.

"Thought that might be it," the redhead muttered back, and pressed a spot on the side of the chair, making all locks snap open at once. "Damn it, that fucking son of a bitch! I never felt so angry all my life!"

"You could've done that earlier," Killer said. "If I knew that you have the strength break out, I would've provoked you myself."

"Don't fucking try that now!" Kidd shouted, swinging a foot at the door, blasting the blockage of the entrance away. "Let's haul our asses out of here and find that bastard, then we have to steal a ship and get away from this hell of a place! But before that, I want both that dead-eyed guy _and_ his asshole of a father dead!"

"Sounds like a nice plan," the masked man answered, picking up his scythe and two discarded pistols along with a pack of bullets. "Want one?"

"No," came the answer with the sound of cracking knuckles. "Let's go!"

And he ran down the black tunnel. Killer, placing in the last of bullets, followed him.

Half a minute later, explosion of dynamites could be heard from behind them.

_So he wasn't kidding_, the masked man thought darkly as he ran. _That bastard was serious about killing us._ "Oi Kidd," he called.

"What?"

"If we do find them, let me take down that Hiroki-guy, you go find their boss," he said.

"Why?"

The memory of their fight flashed through Killer's mind. "I've got a score to settle with him."

"Che, fine by me as long as I get to clobber one of them," Kidd replied, sneering. "Just don't lose!"

_Idiot, don't be so cocky about it. _But with a soundless sigh, he decided not to start lecturing at a time like this, and let it go. "I won't," he said instead.

Minutes past before they saw the exit up ahead in the form of a rectangular shape of white light, and they sped up, determined to get of there as soon as they could. The dirt road soon changed to stairs, and Kidd raced ahead passing the entrance, and seconds later, Killer heard a loud 'bam' of something being kicked down, and he immediately wished that he _had_ given the brat that don't-be-cocky speech. _Are you _trying _to attract attention?_

But wondering was needed no longer as sirens went off.

"Shit," Killer swore under his breath.

And 'lo and behold, when he arrived by Kidd's side moments later, he was greeted with everything he'd expected and more.

"...They're seriously overdoing it," the boy commented with a tiresome look on his face, eyes darting everywhere. "You'd think that we're the only criminals in the city."

This wasn't the yakuza men anymore. It seemed as if they had gotten their marine allies onto the chase as well, because that was exactly what they were surrounded by; marines with swords, marines with guns, marines with cannons, marines shining spotlights on them. There were sailors in white and navy blue uniforms for as far as their eyes could see.

_They really are going overboard with this,_ the masked man agreed silently. _How long will it take for us to finish them all off? Hours? Days? And that's with us not getting injured. _

"It's as if they're waiting for us," he said, narrowing his eyes. "That yakuza bastard set us up."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same," Kidd said.

A large man in the white marine captain coat stepped out from the crowd, facing them, and held a loudspeaker in front of his face. "Testing, one, two, three," he preluded, then began with the actual message. "I am Captain Pinacho, top officer of Brecciame's marine base! Eustass 'Captain' Kidd and 'Massacre Man' Killer, you two pirates are hereby under arrest for heavy offenses against the city of Brecciame. Come quietly or we will have to resort to force!"

"Come quietly?" Kidd echoed. "Not a chance!"

"I hope you know what you're doing," Killer said, as he watched the soldiers loading their rifles and aiming.

"Don't worry."

The guns fired all at once, and the masked man pulled out his scythe as he saw Kidd raising a hand surrounded by crackling electricity; he sorely missed his other scythe at the moment, but one would have to do.

The numerous bullets hauled to a stop in midair, feet away from the two of them. It was quite amusing to see the expressions of the marines, all going from smugness to bewilderment.

The redhead grinned. "_Repel_!"

"Hm, not a bad idea," Killer said as the bullets blew up in their enemies' faces.

Kidd glanced at him sideways. "Of course, our work is cut down because of my Devil Fruit power. Two hours?"

"Sure, that's plenty of time," he said back. "You got any other trick up your sleeves?"

"No, just this one. I'll think of something else along the way."

"Fair enough."

Meanwhile, Captain Pinacho was going berserk. "Wh- What? What is this!" He spun this way and that and finally stopped at Kidd with a snarl. "You! You monster, what did you do to my men?"

"That won't matter," the boy answered, stepping forward. "Since you're all going to die soon. But while you're at it, carry this message to Marineford for me."

Pinacho watched him with quivering eyes and stepped backward even though there was already a large gap between them, as if he didn't want Kidd to get closer than he already had. "What?"

Kidd flexed his wrist. "That I am the man who will become the next King of Pirates!" Without warning, his fist collided with the marine captain's nose a split second later. A head flying in the air moments later indicated that Killer had begun as well.

* * *

"Isn't this a little too dramatic?" Hiroki criticized as he looked down from the window of the seventeenth floor of a nearby building at the number of marines around the abandoned gym entrance. "I doubt that we're going to need half this much. We should have sent our own people instead, and chances are if they don't turn up, all the effort will go wasted."

"No," Takamaru disagreed with an excited glint in his eyes. "This is about fear by overpowering. Unless they're complete imbeciles, they'll surrender the moment they see this force." The son did not bother telling him that they might just be 'complete imbeciles.' "But I have to say, I never thought of them using _our_ tunneling system as a way to escape, since the Shinoda-Kai are the only ones who know about it."

"What can I say? They're probably pretty lucky."

The don then frowned a little. "But, what makes you think that they'll pick this exit?"

Hiroki shrugged. "I have a feeling."

Their attentions perked up as a loud 'bam' rang through the quiet night, and saw just in time the metal door of the gym flying outward by a kick. A redheaded boy with goggles stepped out, and stopped at once.

"That's him?"

"Hai, Eustass 'Captain' Kidd, with a bounty of 35,000,000 beri." _What a lucky guy, escaping two death situations in two days. How did he manage to get free?_

"Too bad that we're only getting half of the given bounties," Takamaru grumbled. "Since we made that deal with Pinacho because of some stupid bounty laws."

"Disappointing," Hiroki agreed.

"And that's his partner in crime, the one with that helmet mask?"

"Yes, 'Massacre Man' Killer, with a bounty of 25,000,000 beri. Did you know that he used to belong to another pirate crew before this? His father, 'Cross-Blades' Ghanga, was the captain of the Cross-Blades pirates, and he was the vice," he turned to look at his own father as Pinacho delivered the little speech. "He betrayed the entire crew and let his new captain kill his own father. Quite a cruel son, don't you think Papa?"

Takamaru snorted. "Cross-Blades? Yeah, I heard of that scum. Glad he's dead; the only good pirate is a dead pirate."

"There is no such thing as a good pirate, Papa, dead or alive," he corrected, and the don burst into laughter.

"Good one, good one!"

He smiled. "It's only the truth-"

"_Repel_!"

_What?_

"...Huh?" Takamaru narrowed his eyes. "What was that?"

"He repelled the bullets," Hiroki responded. "He's a Devil Fruit user?" _I didn't know that, no wonder the room was such a mess when I got there._

"Devil Fruit?" his father hissed, balling his hands into fists.

They observed attentively when Kidd said the next words. "...Carry this message to Marineford for me."

Pinacho backed off. "What?"

"That I'm the man who will become the next King of Pirates!"

_Baka!_ Hiroki widened his eyes, his signature smile slowly wearing off his face. _You shouldn't have._ "Papa?" he called out and looked to his side, where his father was supposed to be. Then he turned around, only to see Takamaru heading for the door. He frowned at this, sensing danger. _Shit... _"Where do you think you're going, Papa?" he asked. "We're not suppose to be involved in this."

The don faced him with an expression of absolute rage and replied in a dark voice, "I am going to make sure that the brat never becomes Pirate King."


	17. One Fight, Two Enemies, Three Traitors

**Author's Note:**Thanks to _allycat18_ and _Fluff_ for reviewing! :D

And to avoid confusion, attacks are italicized within quotes when spoken from now on.

Also, on another note, it seems like that I'm not going to be able to update for another seven or eight days due to the fact that I have a fifteen page English thesis paper due on Monday (and because my Bio grade sucks). What's the paper on? It's the sole reason why I wrote this arc: the mafias, specifically speaking, the Yakuzas, the Russian 'Mafiyas', and the Italian mobs. For those of you out there who are thinking, "Holy crap! Your English teacher let you do a research thesis on the _mafias_?" Yes, she is just _that _epic. XD

But that's all irrelevant.

This is the next-to-last chapter of this arc. There will probably be two Inter Arcs after this, and then we go on a mini-arc (three chapters at the most?) of them going into Grand Line, then the real stuff begins... I told you that this is a long, long story. No kidding here.

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

They were going through marines like a whale eating fishes with its mouth opened wide, and it was then when Kidd decided that the navy was a sorry excuse of a sub-organization if all of its men were like this. All they were capable of were repetitive shootings and even more pathetic swordsmanship that made a five year old look like Hawk-Eyes. The only nuisance was their number- such a large army wouldn't take ten minutes to annihilate; it would take hours, but they had hours.

Problem was, neither of them were very patient.

_Where the hell could they be?_ Kidd thought as he gutted someone in the stomach, breaking the ribcage of the man, looking around for anything that might have a shadow, or any place, really, that resembled a secret meeting quarter of the mafia.

Sadly, he had not the faintest idea of what that might be like, nor did he have much time to look with so many marines hot on his tail.

"_Repel_!" The twenty-some bullets speeding his way averted directions a hundred and eighty degrees.

_Damn it_, Kidd swore in his mind the moment he noticed another thing, _Now I lost Killer too! Stupid marines!_

* * *

Hiroki ducked into the safe shadow as he watched his father heading towards a bloody battlefield of scattering heads of marines. He ducked, not because a spotlight was currently scanning where he'd been, not because he wasn't suppose to be here- nobody would really cared except it'd mean that the family was involved in this-, but because standing in the middle of the sea of decapitated bodies was the Massacre Man.

Any other times, he'd be standing out there, examining the fight to his heart's content. Right now, however, he got bigger things in mind.

With Takamaru facing him, Killer stopped his killing, and the rest of the soldiers backed off and ran away with frightened expressions on their faces.

_This isn't good._ Hiroki cringed in his head.

"And you will be?" the masked man questioned coldly.

"I am Takamaru, head of the Shinoda family," said the man with the red-coat.

At this, Killer turned his attention completely to the newcomer, who stared straight into his eyes with a deathly look. "You're the oyabun?" he said. "Hmph, I promised Kidd that he'd have you, yet you found me instead."

The don glowered. "Yes, he can fight me- after I find him and present him your dead body, that is!"

And without a spared second, he charged towards the masked man and brought a fist down, shattering the concrete ground, denting a center with web-like fractures going outward in all directions. Killer jumped back and ran forward with his scythe spinning. The blade cut the abdomen of the other man, creating a huge gush, and the attack was finished with a kick, sending the don flying backwards until he screeched to a stop with the help of his heels.

Normally, Killer would walk away after something like this. Except this time, instead of blood, pebbles fell out like sand would out of a ripped sandbag. The don's face twisted into a sneer as he got back up.

"How...?" Hiroki heard him mutter with surprise.

"This is my curse," Takamaru answered, and held up a hand that had multiple shades of gray. "The very thing that kept me from taking over Grand Line."

_After all these years, he still refers to it as a curse_, the hidden man thought. _Even though it helps him more than it hinders him, he still refuses to face his fear of the ocean._ He closed his eyes. _It's__ not your curse at all, Papa, it's my bind._

Like every other times, it went unheard.

"Judging by your captain's display earlier, he is cursed too. Though, he's only a Paramecia, am I wrong?" Takamaru continued, clenching his teeth with hatred. "The curse of the Sea Devil, a spell only a sea scum like you deserves. But with it, I will take you out before the water can drown him, because that's what the Sea Devil and his spawns owe me; all the fortune I would have been able to gather had I not have this!

"My fruit is the Iwa Iwa no Mi, it's a Logia-type." He closed the hand into a fist, and sounds of crumbling rocks could be heard. "I'll crush you; with the abundance of my fruit's element here, this island is _my _territory. You're as good as dead the moment you chose to go against me, pirate. I'll bury you alive six feet underground!"

* * *

Killer felt the cement under his feet crackling into little pieces.

_Shit,_ he hissed silently beneath his mask, undecided to whether stay here and fight, or run for the sake of his safety and figure out a way to beat the enemy later. _I didn't expect to face a Logia so soon. _Especially _not before Grand Line, and this man sounded like someone with a grudge against pirates. _Soon, the ground turned completely sediment, and he knew that he didn't have a choice.

Pebbles were already building up on the don's body, which had turned into a rather interesting mix of colors.

He began rotating his scythe, and charged.

"_Compact_!"

The blade hit a rock-formed shield, and red sparks flew at the friction.

"_Impact_!"

The masked man had zero time to reaction before a stone-hard fist slammed against his chest, and he felt himself flying through the air, seconds later landing on the rough ground. Blood splattered on the inside of the helmet.

_Fuck,_ he slowly picked himself up, _How do you hurt a rock?_ But just as he was about to move his left foot, he found that impossible.

Killer looked down and snarled with anger, seeing the sediments already forming quite a mount around his left leg, well on their way to the right one. He turned up to face a grinning yakuza don, who's hands were tightly gripping a ball of air, manipulating the rocks.

"I will tear your legs off," he said viciously. "And they will become part of the rocks, hahaha! Maybe in a few hundred millenniums someone will dig it up as ancient fossils!"

"Not if I kill you first," Killer said back, putting his scythe away and picking the two pistols from his side. He fired them.

Pieces of stones flew in the air with the multiple rounds, and he felt the grip around his legs loosen. Taking the opportunity, he kicked himself off the ground, and headed for the other man, ready to swing his blade with full force. It struck the side of the chest, but of course, had no effect.

"_Impact!_"

_Shit!_ This time, it was aimed at his stomach. The spasm in his abdomen muscles agonized him. Blood dripped from the bottom of his mask down his neck. The heavy rocks around him began to move, piling on top of him, weighting down on his chest and neck and pinning his limbs in place and clutch was getting tighter and tighter with each second passing. Realizing what was going to happen, he tried to get up, having little success. _No!_

"_Cementation-_"

"_Repel!_"

The blast was immense; he was never more thankful to have a mask on at the moment, for surely, he'd be defaced by the flight of stones flying above him, some hitting the steel helmet hard enough to scratch and dent it. It could only be one person.

"He ran that way! Get him!" someone shouted in the distance.

"Hold on, isn't that...?"

"What is _he_ doing here? Didn't Captain Pinacho tell us that they're not involved?"

Killer saw Kidd grin smugly. "Looks like they're rethinking about following me," the boy said, seeing the marines stopping in the distance, and turned to him picking himself up. "What the hell, Killer? Is it just me or did you get a lot weaker?"

"Shut up," the pissed off masked man growled.

"Che, you can be a little more thankful, baka," he said back.

"_Impact!_"

"Oi, Kidd!"

But the boy hardly needed the notification. "_Repel!_"

The two forces met each other, and waves in form of rings rippled through the air, creating high-speed wind. The two Devil Fruit users were locked in a stalemate, hands a foot from the other as they struggled to hold their ends.

The don's eyes widened. "You're a magnet man?"

Kidd sneered at him. "Maybe I am."

Then the eyes narrowed. "You want to become the King of Pirates, boy?"

"Yeah," came the haughty answer. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Hmph, that's an easy question; I'm going to kill you before you can even think about stepping foot into Grand Line!"

The boy snarled. "As if you can!" He broke the stalemate and jumped away, letting the enemy crashing into the ground. "Who the hell do you think you are to stop me?"

"Kidd!" Killer called out. "You better be careful; he's a Logia-type!"

"A what?"

"_Impact!_"

Rocks exploded around them as the stone fist collided with the ground. The redhead ducked and repelled off the ones flying in his direction, ran up and swung a kick at the man, sending the don stumbling backwards.

"How...? He's made of stone!"

"Moron, I told you; he's a Devil Fruit user too, and a Logia-type! Don't be so overconfident about this!"

"..." Kidd stared at the moving statue in front of him, frowning. "...What the hell is a Logia?" he muttered under his breath.

The words brushed Killer's nerves. _That little... I should've made him... No... It won't work with this idiot anyway. If he's still alive by the end of this, I'll give him a proper lecture whether he likes it or not._ Then as an afterthought. _After I kill him and bring him back to life first, that is._

"Oi, Killer-"

"Perhaps, you should be paying _more_ attention to _me_!"

An arm swelled and grew into a club, and the don brought it downwards, making another massive explosion that could've killed any normal man. Kidd dodged just in time. The boy landed ten feet away, gazing at the giant arm with sudden interest. He grinned, struck with an inspiration. "Perfect."

He held his left hand up in front of him and activated his power. The discarded swords and guns around them flew towards him, making their place around his arm. Still, it was a small built, but enough to catch the don's attention.

Half a mile up the road, marines who'd been watching the fight jumped as their weapons started rattling.

"Captain Pinacho! What is going on?" one of them shouted as his rifle levitated into the sky and zoomed towards the fight's direction. "Is this the yakuza's doing?"

The marine captain could be said to be nothing less of shocked as he saw what was happening in the distance. He'd seen Takamaru's fighting techniques over the years; rocks, yes. Metals... "...No, it's that 'Captain' Kidd's! What the hell is up with him? All those weapons, is he trying to kill himself?"

"He's forming an arm with them!"

Back at the fight, Kidd was grinning like a madman at the stunned don, who was watching with a dropped jaw and popped eyes.

"...You little runt dare to copy my technique!" he roared with rage, the giant club for a right hand he had shook and few pieces broke off from the quake.

The boy smirked with triumph. "Metals easily crush rocks, if I remember well."

His enemy venomous glared at him with absolute hatred. "Pirate scum," he hissed darkly. "Impressive that you're able to accomplish this, but don't think that just because you can copy my ability you've won this; I'm a Logia, after all, and you're still _human_! You cannot harm me! But I can easily crush weak human bodies made of fresh and bone into dust!" His arm extended out, but not towards Kidd, who narrowed his eyes before he figured out what was planned. "Let me demonstrate to you with your comrade!"

Hearing this, Killer was well on his way, running.

Someone clamped around his right ankle, and dragged him down.

_Shit!_ The pebbles began covered his struggling body at a ridiculously fast pace, bruising his skin and sharp edges digging into the flesh.

"_Cementation!_"

"Killer!" Kidd shouted as his first mate disappeared under a bed of rocks, panic shooting through his bloodstream. He spun his attention back to the don, who gave him a teeth baring sneer.

"He's already two feet under, four more to-!"

Not even waiting for his opponent to finish speaking, Kidd's weapon-formed arm collided with the rocky-made body, blasting it apart. The pebbles flew and fell in all directions, and he rushed to the spot where he saw Killer being dragged down and began to dig. A bloody hand shot up from the ground, startling him, and grabbed his wrist.

Moments later, the blond, with clothes covered with red, made his way up.

The don was already half way regenerating himself.

"Can you run?"

"Probably," Killer replied, but after taking just two steps, he stumbled.

"You can't, can you?" He received coughs as an answer. "Here," he grabbed Killer and carried the man over his shoulder.

"No, don't-" The sound of blood splattering against the inside of the helmet. The boy released him, concerned, then masked the concern with annoyance as Killer coughed. "...I took a couple of hit in the stomach, idiot. Don't carry me; you'll only make it worse."

The don was almost done. Kidd took a glance at the forming humanoid structure, disregarded what his first mate said, and swung the man over his shoulder anyway, and began running down the street, ducking into narrow alleyways despite the protests from the blond.

"Shut up!" he snapped, ready to shove Killer into a passing dumpster by the time they turned a third corner. "It's your fault that you didn't run when you had the chance to!"

"And leave you there? Who knows what might have happened."

"Well, you getting buried alive by rocks is what happened!"

"That was a glitch on my part."

The lid on his rage exploded. "A glitch? You call that a _glitch_?" he screeched. "I should've fucking-"

Something extended out from the darkness and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him into a stop. Kidd turned around, leg raised for a kick, only to have that blocked by a hand. The hand flung him back, sending him stumbling back a few step and nearly made him lose his grip on Killer. It lowered, revealing an all-too-familiar face.

"You!" he hissed.

"Please follow me," Hiroki said. "Hurry, he's catching up fast."

Kidd's fists balled. "Follow you? I still haven't kicked your sorry ass yet! Now you want me to follow you so we can be trapped by you again?"

"I give you my words that I won't put you in harm again," the black-haired man said.

"Like the fuck do I-"

"Kidd, let him help us," Killer cut in.

The boy stared at the man over his shoulder like he was crazy.

"Since he gave you his words, we can trust him," the masked man continued.

"Trust him? Are you fucking kidding? He tried to kill us!"

"Just do it," he commanded.

Kidd looked at him, then turned back to the yakuza, who had stepped sideways, showing them an opened doorway. The shouts of the marines were growing closer and closer in the distance. With a clench of his jaw, he headed for the door way. "Fine," he said harshly to Killer. "But this is the last time that I'm listening to you!"

In another alleyway, a pair of piercing eyes watched them. Once the three men disappeared beyond the entrance, the figure skulked away.

* * *

The streets the following morning was chaotic to say the least. Marines and yakuzas scrambled around the city, racing to their position as a giant navy warship pulled up and docked by the private marine dock. The citizens lined themselves by the side of the roads as a swaggering officer in bellowing white coat with a cigar in his mouth walked down the center, the two kanjis meaning 'justice' on his back could be seen by everyone. On either side of him were two certified inspectors, looking pretty full of it themselves as their badges glimmered in the sunlight.

Approaching the base, Pinacho greeted them with a soldier's salute. The rest of his men followed his example. "We welcome you to Brecciame, Commodore Yank! I am Captain Pinacho, head of Brecciame's marine base."

"Hm?" Yank merely hummed, pupils scanning the environment with distaste, as if this city disgusted him somehow.

The lower-ranked officer waited with a stoic expression, sweats lining his forehead.

"Shinoda Takamaru," the commodore finally said.

A bead of sweat ran from Pinacho's forehead down on the side of his face. "Shinoda Takamaru?" he echoed. "Sorry, but I believe that Mister Shinoda had an emergency and left the island last night at ten. He's currently not available, you have my most humble apology."

Yank's eyes bored into his. "So he's not here?"

"Correct."

One of the inspectors leaned over and muttered something in his ear. "Eh? How many?" The cold eyes lit up.

"Sir?"

"Well," Yank said. "Apparently, there are report of a formatted battle last night. Care to share, Captain Pinacho?"

"Yes, two afternoons ago, two pirates of high bounties inflicted major damages to the city, including the murder of over fifty innocent civilians, and escaped, hiding. We'd scheduled a full-out search last night that'd turned into a battle," Pinacho explained. "Unfortunately, they're still not found. Their names are..."

"Begin," Yank ordered his two inspectors, completely lost interest in what his inferior had to say. "Make sure you question the people here. Try the women, they're more likely to cough something up."

"Yes sir!"

The captan gulped and tried again, "Commodore, I must inform you that these two pirates are of extreme danger to the rest of us, and it'd be more important for you to assist us in our search of them instead of conducting this petty little inspection right-"

"Shut up, you money-grabbing shithead," Yank growled, stopping Pinacho in mid-sentence. He walked past the slightly shaken officer and headed for the gate of the base. Turning around, he glared at everything around him. "I know that the Shinoda-Kai has something to do with this. You might think the others will take your bullshit about a bounty-hunting organization, but you got _me_ this time. I don't tolerate shit. Make my trip simple within the next two hours or I'll make your job hard, got it?"

Another bead of sweat rolled down. "Yes sir."

* * *

_Bam! Bam! Bam!_ The hammer pounded against wood. Gentle wind blew in his face as the relaxing sound of wave crashing against the shore reached his ears every few seconds.

"Freeze!" A click of a gun.

He stopped, putting down his hammer, and stared at the single marine pointing a rifle at him. "Hai?"

"Who are you?"

"Me?" He pointed at himself. "I'm a local shipwright. What can I do for you?"

The soldier looked at him up and down for a full minute before putting away his weapon, digging into his pocket and unrolling out two posters. One said "Eustass Kidd, Dead or Alive, 35,000,000 beri" and the other "Killer, Dead or Alive, 25,000,000 beri." He raised an eyebrow at them. "These are the two pirates we're searching for," the marine explained. "Since you're a local, please give us any clue as to the whereabouts of them."

"Ah... Those two?" He gazed up at the sky thoughtfully. "Yes, yes. I believe I saw them before." The soldier listened attentively. He smiled at him, and pointed in a random direction. "The last time I saw them, they went that way." And he added at the end, "Probably."

"Thank you very much!" A salute, and the soldier was gone.

"Any time," he muttered back, picking up the hammer again.

_Heh, a marine who doesn't recognize me? He must be from the South Blue Headquarter. So the talks I heard about the inspectors arriving are true._ Hiroki glanced at the opposite of his pointed direction. _It could be a lot of trouble if they discover our underground tunnels. Then again, they'd have a hard time finding out the rooms._

* * *

_How long are we going to be stuck here? _Kidd wondered to himself- the only reason why he didn't ask it out loud was because he already knew the answer for asking it so often over the course of four days; "Who knows?", "He told us that they sent a commodore here and they're looking for us as well as the yakuza don. We can't leave until the inspectors is settled and over", and what seemed to be the most common one, "Shut up and sleep."

Either way, asking was useless, because asking would always ended up in either a snappy response, or a long lecture- the first one being about his Devil Fruit power, which he was sure to have lasted at the very least, an hour. Killer'd told him about some three types, explained that 'Logia' thing, and so on. Most of the time, he could barely comprehend what the blond was telling him; everything sounded too... scientific. He didn't like that.

Of course, once catching onto the fact that just by lecturing (something Killer seemed to enjoy immensely) he could annoy Kidd, he seemed to be doing that more and more often and the boy learned to leave him alone lest the redhead fancied drowning in boredom.

Kidd gazed at the closed metal door of the room as the sound of the air circulation vent started up again. Not that he really cared by now, but he was still a little suspicious that they weren't turned in yet.

_Who gives a fuck?_ he told himself in the end. _As long as we get out off this island._

_Though, I really will kill someone if I don't get out soon. There's nothing to do here._

* * *

Underground on the other side of the city...

"They still haven't left?" Chiyo shouted. "It's been well over four days, and they found nothing! Get rid of them this instance!"

Pinacho stood, stone-faced even as she screamed at him. Like how he'd gotten used to the attitude of the don, he'd also gotten used to the temper of the Ane-san of Shinoda-Kai, not that it was ever a good thing to get her mad.

"Where is my husband?" she demanded. "And where is that bastard-child, Hiroki?"

"He's in the northern wing, Chiyo," Pinacho answered, trying to calm the raging woman. "And Hiroki hid himself as well; we haven't seen his shadow in days."

At this, she sneered, her beautiful face twisted into an eyesore that would have turned anyone away from her, but him; he knew better than to turn away. "Hmph," she grunted, her sharp eyes shone with blazing anger, and hissed at him. "I don't give a shit. I want to go out, I want to go back home, and I want that commodore out of our territory!" The woman looked him dead in the face and smirked. "Bring Aruji-sama out if you have to. You know what will be in store for you if we can get rid of him. Let the marines take him, I can hardly care now!"

"But-" he started.

"Do it!" She flung a vase at him. The porcelain crashed into pieces. He glanced at the sharp white shards, unmoved.

"They're not going to leave until they found someone to put the blame on," he continued. "They're currently in search of the two pirates."

"Then use Takamaru!" Chiyo ordered. "Bring my husband out!"

The marine captain gulped. He didn't tell her that she was asking for the impossible. He didn't tell her that he'd never go against a yakuza boss and a commodore at the same time, he wasn't willing to take the risk.

"Bring him out! Play it so they kill each other and all will be well. I am his wife, once he dies, his mandate rights will fall into my hand by the law of the family," she said, a fist clenched. "I will take care of that little traitor myself!"

Silence.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" she screamed.

He could only answer, "Yes."

* * *

Hiroki drifted stealthily through the night, landing on the rooftop of one building after another towards the quiet standing fifty-story skyscraper, otherwise known as the tallest building in the city, the business buildings of many professionals of Brecciame, and most importantly, the building owned by the Shinoda family, who took up over half of the offices and suite spaces inside.

Hoping down from a tiny two-story, he landed right behind a patrolling marine, who spun around the moment he heard the gentle clank of Hiroki's shoes hitting the ground, only to be knocked out as something hit a nerve point in the back of his head.

_Sorry_, he apologize silently, heading for the front door of the building.

Of course, it was locked. _Not for the first time, I wish that I had done a better job before of convincing Papa to let me install a coding machine that only opens by fingerprints,_ he thought gloomily. _Not that I have one designed, but it couldn't be that hard. The back knowledge is still the same, and we'd make money too._

_But sadly, he's too conservative. What an old-fashioned old coot._

_I can't break anything, especially not the front door._

He looked up, scanning for an opened window, finding two on the third floor and five on the seventh. Three of them showed light. He focused on the closest dark one on the seventh, and grabbed onto a pipe by the side of the building, beginning to climb.

Reaching the second floor, the sound of people turned around a corner. He froze and listened.

Two drunks.

He relaxed as they disappeared, singing something about the sea and a woman on the moon.

He resumed his climbing, only to be stopped a minute later by the sound of people talking. Once again, he froze and listened. This time, it wasn't drunken men. These voices were awfully familiar.

"...Of course you're cleared, Oyabun, have I ever lied to you about such things?" Captain Pinacho's voice said

"No," his father's voice drawled back.

Hiroki's grip on the pipe tightened. _Papa? What is he doing out here? _His eyes darted towards the bright window to his left, realizing that if they come any closer, he'd be spotted. Taking a chance, he swung himself around and jumped into the room inside, landing on soft carpet.

"Hey!" a man by couch cried in surprise, only to be silenced as the intruder knocked him out.

He headed back to the window and looked down carefully.

"...Will not-"

"Did you hear something?" Takamaru questioned, narrowing his eyes in alert.

"No, I didn't."

The don looked around twice. "Must be my imagination, then," he muttered. "Now you were saying..."

"Tomorrow, I will take you to the commodore, his name is Yank. He's a six-badged officer from the South Blue headquarter. He once took down a crew member of Big Mom the Yonkou, thus, earning him his status," Pinacho said. "Yank is well respected within the marine ranks, doing something to upset him is not wise."

"Che," Takamaru huffed carefreely. "What about those two pirates?"

"We still are not able to..."

And Hiroki heard enough. He backed off, the tiniest of smirks on his face.

He could hardly believe what had just been said. _You're lying to Papa, Pinacho-dono?_

Disregarding the conversation he'd just heard for later, he headed for the door of the room, stepping into the quiet hallway, and ducked before a Den Den mushi camera could see him.

He had a mission tonight. The worries could wait till tomorrow.

* * *

Three hours later, a tired Hiroki emerged on the rooftop of the skyscraper, looking at the nearest sister skyscraper that was only five stories less than theirs. On his back was a baggage full of books.

The sun was coming up the horizon.

Down below, as early as it was, the city was already starting to bloom with life. Coffee and breakfast shops were already opening, and citizens were roaming the streets, some walking more enthusiastically than others. Normally, this would've been a pleasant sight for him to see, but not this morning.

A small frown graced Hiroki's normally smiling face. _Does that mean I'm stuck here until night again? Or should I take a chance and head back down by stairs?_

_Of course, since Pinacho-dono said that Papa is meeting that commodore today, I have to be present as well, right? Maybe it won't take the whole day then?_

And his questions needed not to be answered as he heard a click behind him. He stood up straight.

Even before seeing the assaulter, Hiroki knew who it was.

_Right now? I didn't expect it. This is pretty inconvenient._

As the head of the gun pressed against his skull, he chuckled.

"To be able to locate, follow and sneak up to me so quietly," he said, dropping his load and turning around to face the hand-bearer. "It's no wonder that you're the wife of a yakuza boss, Ane-san."

Chiyo glared at her step-son with pure loathing, and pressed the gun down harder. "You will follow my exact order, or I will kill you."


	18. Luck Within Insanity

**Author's Note: **Thanks to _allycat18, Msaju17, doriansburial _and _ChibiFluffy _for reviewing! Thank you all for being patient- this really took way long than I'd liked. But since school's over for me now (well, I still got state exams ^^'), I'm going to have more time to write and can update more frequently. Yay for summer vacation!

This chapter is only half of what I want it to be. But I haven't updated in millenniums, and if I were to write the whole thing, it'd be over 8000 words. So I settle for this 4000 little shortie. Later on, chapters will have to be longer in order to reduce story length- I've planned this whole thing out and it's a grand total of 133 chapters before this will be over. If I were to update on a schedule of four or five days, it'd take two years... But for now, enjoy!

(1)Yubitsume- In yakuza world, it is the act of cutting off a finger (can be just the tip, can be the whole thing, and can be any finger, but mostly commonly the tip of a little finger to start) as a way of apologizing to someone of higher status that you offended. The offender is to give it to the boss or their higher-up in a ceremony, seeking forgiveness, which may or may not be granted.

* * *

A cloud of smoke hit his nose the instance he stepped into the room, and he felt irritation brooding in his blood at the sudden stench of cheap cigars. Normally, the smoker would have been near dead for polluting his breathing air like this, but this was hardly the kind of time to mind this sort of situation, nor the right person to kill.

Around the room stood tensed navy soldiers in uniforms and caps, their eyes shadowed. Takamaru ignored them and stared warily at the main focus of this meeting- a man in marine coat who was sitting rather laid-back on the very expensive leather sofa- before putting on a bright, teeth-showing grin.

"Commodore Tank-" he began.

"It's Yank," the marine corrected, looking up at him with equally wary eyes. "So you finally decided to show up, Shinoda Takamaru."

"Pardon me, Commodore Yank," he lightly said back, looked nothing like a murderous gangster who was a hair away from choking the life out of the enemy in front of him, and took a seat facing the commodore, setting his briefcase on the floor. "I was informed that you request a meeting with me. What brings you here? Does the navy need my help? Money? Business connection? I'm sure I can be of great assistance, name your needs! Now," He pulled a pack of Fire Fume, the most expensive brand of cigar he carried with him, out of his left pocket. "Care to try?"

Yank narrowed his eyes, took his own nicotine-stick out of his mouth and stabbed the burning end down on the glass desk. "I don't take shit from low-lives."

A few moment of silence.

"I see," Takamaru finally said, his grin growing deeper.

Awkward was too mild an adjective to describe the atmosphere. Several marines on guard gulped as the two men in the middle stared at each other. The air was suffocating. The underlings spared each other nervous glances, fearing the worst. Some were Yank's men, some were native marines of Brecciame, but at the moment, nobody was brave or insane enough to want a fight to start even with the difference in loyalty.

Thankfully, nothing of that sort ensued.

"I'm sure that we both know why I called you here."

What Pinacho told him earlier flashed through his mind; the marine captain had said something about this man being different from all the rest. More dangerous, oppressive and aggressive. However, looking into said man's face at the moment, he found nothing different from the typical government dogs that'd always conducted the annual inspections. Nothing more fearful. Nothing less laughable. He wasn't a leader of the biggest organized crime in South Blue just because he inherited the seat from his father; dealing with people like these was a daily affair. Socializing was one of his biggest talent, and he made friends as easy as he made enemies. If that would not work, then money surely will make this bastard turn his head.

"Oh?" he responded, putting the pack of cigars back into his pocket. "Sadly, I know nothing of why. Do enlighten me. What does the South Blue Headquarter need? Any specific pirate that you're chasing after? Give a name! My men are top-notch hunters, I ensure you!"

"Yes, pirates," Yank's expression grew colder at the mention of them. "Bounty-hunting is quite a business, it's easy to see the reason you turned towards that. Ever since Roger started this so-called 'Golden Age of Piracy' those scums have been polluting the sea faster than rabbits could breed. Of course, the government need all the help we can get."

Takamaru nodded in agreement. This was going his way. "I'm glad we see in the same light."

"Tell me, what is your gross income?"

He smiled at the commodore his best business smile. "Yearly? Now, let's see... We hunt down approximately three to four bounty heads a month with each at the price of ten to fifteen million, so 50,000,000 beri a month, which means a nice figure of around 600,000,000 beri per year, if I did my calculation correctly. Of course, there is the salary subtracted since my men work on commission and receives eighty percent of the amount-"

"600,000,000 beri, huh?" Yank interrupted, pulling out a packet of paper and placing it on the table. The don stared down and found it to be his last year's tax report.

"600,000,000 beri," he said back. "Is there something matter with that sum? It is exactly what my organization earns, and what I had faithfully submitted on my paperwork."

"No."

"Then what is your point, Commodore?"

The marine did not answer, but instead reached into his side and pulled out another cigar, lit that up and inhaled deeply. Smoke wafted and rose in the air a moment later.

"Pirate-hunting is easy money nowadays," he said. "North Blue gave the most violent reaction out of the four seas. Grand Line is littered with scums now, and who knows what's currently going on in New World." A pause. "North Blue, South Blue, West Blue, and East Blue- as far as reaction-wise, we come second, but a very close second. But just taking East Blue for example, a young ruffian, Roronoa Zoro, already took advantage of this and established quite a fearing reputation as a pirate hunter himself.

"Here, we have the Shinoda Kai doing his sort of job for us," the marine went on. "First of all, let me just speak to you of the eternal gratefulness of the South Blue Headquarter for making our job easier."

Takamaru would have laughed, but instead, he settled for a nod. If it had been anyone else, he would have thought that he'd won the struggle. However, something was quite off about this. This was too easy.

"And I _personally_ will have to thank your underling, Pinacho, for making _my_ job easier."

Realization trickled.

"Captain Pinacho?" Takamaru echoed. If he'd give in now, he'd lose automatically. "My underling? That's strange, I never recall employing him."

_He lied to me?_

"I will make this simpler for you, Mister Shinoda," Yank growled, placing a hand on the paper. "Two offenses do not equal zero penalty, especially when one of them, branched into several others, could without a doubt get your a life sentence in Impel Down itself. This," He pointed at the six hundred million on the sheet, "should have an addition of at least two billion beri. Tax evasion, your first offense."

Takamaru tinned his lips and leaned back. There was no doubt about the situation now.

"Second, direction have led us straight to three warehouses to the south of the island. Three warehouses full of cocaine, opium and heroine inside rum barrels and rice sacks."

The don clenched his fists.

Yank glared at him. "What have you got to say about that?"

"I never thought that I'd be betrayed," he began in a grief voice. "I guess that I should have seen this coming, shouldn't I? Haha! What can you expect from a marine who's willing to play a double agent for a yakuza family?"

"I take that your act is over?"

A smirk. "Over? I guess so!" He opened his arm and let out a big, hearty laugh. "But let's not forget the one thing we have in common, Commodore Yank! Pirate, _pirate_! Their heads are what we live for, isn't that right? We both hate them, don't we? So, let's forget about this all, and take a little gift from the heart with you as a token of our new found acquaintance before you write down your report."

He picked the briefcase from the ground, opened it, and nearly burst out laughing again when he saw the widening of the commodore's eyes.

"Here is exactly 100,000,000 beri, Yank. Take it." Takamaru pushed the money towards him. "Of course, Pinacho may stay alive for now, since I would prefer not to stir up any more controversy with his death."

The wide eyes relaxed back into its usual coldness. A loud 'bam', and he felt something penetrating his gut.

Smoke steamed out of the end of the gun Yank was holding. "I told you," the marine growled. "I don't take shit from low-lives." He glared at the don. "I don't take crap about your little 'what we have in common' reasoning, either, Mister Shinoda. To me, a criminal is a criminal. You're just as much shit as a pirate scum."

Takamaru sneered. "How usual. It's not everyday that someone takes death over 100,000,000 beri, Commodore Yank."

A marine guard jumped back into a corner. Another's hands flew to his rifle. A third one screamed with fright.

A window of the thirty-fourth floor of the tallest building in Brecciame crashed into pieces, and down fell someone draped in a bloody marine coat. Rocks and pebbles fell with him.

* * *

The door flew backwards into the darkness of the tunnel. The noise of screeching metal brought Killer to his feet, and he spun around, seeing Kidd standing in front of the now doorless entrance.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" the masked man demanded.

For minutes, no answer came.

"I can't take it anymore," Kidd finally hissed. He turned to face his first mate, and Killer frowned at the strange look on the boy's face. "I need to get out of here." The lips pulled back, baring teeth, as if he was fighting something. "We have to go now!"

"Why?"

Truth to be told, Kidd couldn't explain it either. He averted his sight from the masked man and looked down the tunnel. It was a feeling that he'd been getting for the past few days now- In fact, he knew exactly when; it was three nights ago when he had started falling asleep, and the feeling just hit him like a mountain of brick. The strange sensation had not stopped nagging him since then. It felt like a tugging force, constantly pulling him. And what was even more strange was it had been making him turn to and walk in a certain direction.

"He isn't back yet," Killer said.

"That bastard's taking way too long," the redhead hissed. "As if I got a lifetime to waste. If that commodore still hasn't gotten off by now, then he's definitely on to something, which just might as well become us arrested any time now. I don't care if I have to expose ourselves in order to get out of here. I'm going no matter what you say!"

"Oi-"

But he didn't wait.

Killer snarled under his breath as the idiot captain vanished into the darkness, and picked up his two scythes, which had been retrieved for him by the yakuza.

_Were you listening to me at _all _for the past week?_

He ran after the little dipshit.

* * *

Meanwhile, said dipshit zoomed down the tunnel blindly, his body reacting to the tug and he kept crashing into the left wall because he couldn't see ahead of him.

Eustass Kidd was never the kind of person who'd think before he leaps. All he knew was that he had an objective, and he had to reach it no matter what. Any trouble he might run into he winged it, even if it was near impossible. It was a wonder how different, and yet, similar were the two words "recklessness" and "ruthlessness" and just how dead middle was he walking- or running- the line between them.

BAM!

A bullet wheezed past his face, and he halt to a stop. The dead silence in the tunnels and the rocks made the gunshots sounded ten times as loud as normal.

_What?_

BAM! BAM!

"_Repel!_" he shouted, and the speeding bullets reverted back. A second later, a man screamed, and sound of heavy but fast footsteps could be heard.

The next moment, he was surrounded by men in trench-coats and suits.

_That's right,_ Kidd thought grimly to himself. _It's not just us in the rooms. This is their hiding place!_

_Not that I might have any trouble taking care of them._

"We found you," one of them said triumphantly, finger setting on the trigger of his pistol. "Our ticket to promotion! Give it up, pirate!"

Kidd shot him a nasty look. "You annoying bunch of pests," he spat. "You're in my way! Move!"

The man's eyebrows quirked at the haughty reply. "Why you little piece of..." And not bothering with finishing his sentence, he pulled the trigger, only to have the gun exploding in his hand. He reeled back, howling with pain and he clutched his burning hand.

"Oi! Don't you know that he's a Devil Fruit user?" a smarter one shouted and stepped back with terror writing all over his face. The rest of his comrades responded the same.

"You mean, he's like Oyabun?" another one asked, his weapon shaking in his grip. "This isn't good! What do we do?"

"'Not good?'" Kidd echoed with amusement, and lifted up his tingling hand. "That doesn't cover half of it!"

"What hell- AAAH!" Blood splattered everywhere as knives and daggers dug into flesh. The pirate kicked aside a body flung at him, and grabbed the head of a second yakuza, slamming it down the ground. The metal-contained materials were already building up quite a mount around his left arm. One last kick, and the final man was down.

The bundle grew into a screw-shaped formation, and Kidd thrust it up into the tunnel ceiling.

A minute later, on a catastrophic street of screaming people, between marines and a single man made of rocks fighting, the cement ground burst apart.

Both Takamaru and Yank's face were that of shock was their target bounty head emerged from underground in the middle of their battle ground, looking rather pissed and smug at the same time. Kidd landed safely, dust himself of whatever rocks and dirt, sense alert for whatever that might happen. It took moments to sink in.

"Damn it," the boy swore once he got hold of the situation, glancing between a marine commodore and the yakuza don. Then, his face broke into a madden, delighted grin. The rock-man snarled at him, a noise that resembled angry, colliding rocks. "What a coincidence. I was planning to beat you both up, but it looks as if you're already ahead of the game!"

"So you're Eustass 'Captain' Kidd," Yank said, staring at the redhead with vexation. "The bounty head of 35,000,000 beri, huh?" Then he glanced down into the hole made and snorted. "An underground tunnel, Shinoda? How lucky, this make my search much, much more easier."

The three stood, glaring at the other two, waiting for someone to make a move. None of them could decide who to attack first. Who to rid first? Which enemy was more important? For a minute, a breeze traveled through the air and blew seeds off of nearby dandelions. Kidd's fire-red wild hair rustled, the red and black, spike-decorated fur coat of the don swayed, and dust dirtied Yank's brown boots.

Takamaru's sudden laugh cut off the silence. He tightened his rocky fist, eyes glinted with excitement. "A three-way fight, guess this is the way that it's going to be!"

At this, Yank narrowed his eyes, and Kidd straightened his back, crackling his knuckles.

The don's body was already gathering up more and more sediments.

The commodore brought out a long rapier from his side- and the pirate had a raise an eyebrow at that.

A pale hand began crackling with electricity.

Then the ground burst opened again, and out jumped Killer, scythes rotating in full battle mode, dripping with blood of what Kidd would guess to be more yakuza men.

* * *

Half an hour ago, the clock read a little over four.

On the forty-eighth floor of the tallest building in Brecciame, two people strolled the empty hallways

"Move! Walk faster!" Chiyo commanded her captive, who shot her a stoic glance that immediately shut her up. In response, she pressed the head of the pistol down harder on the skull.

"There is no need to be in a hurry, Ane-san," Hiroki smoothed her. "It's only four in the morning- Oh, but I suppose we have to attend that meeting with Papa, or is that not necessary?"

"Quiet," she snapped, and gestured her head to the room to their right. "Open that and go inside."

Her step-son looked at the label in front of the door, a plate which read, "Storage Room." A little smirk graced his face; Chiyo wasn't even going to be creative about this, was she? Still, he had to give her credit- if a plan did its job, then it could be called a good plan no matter how it was carried out.

_Open it?_

He kicked it down.

The woman jumped with shock. "I told you to open it, you stupid trash!" she roared.

"It's opened," he said back calmly, stepping into the room and tossing the bag of book in his hand aside. "Is it not?"

She glowered at him for a moment before pushing away her rage and followed, the gun never leaving his head. "Never mind," she hissed. "You'll get what's coming whether the door's down or not."

Hiroki turned around and gave her his signature smile. The next second, his arm swung, and a hand knocked the weapon out of her grip. He smiled wider as she screamed and backed into an antique table. "No," he disagreed.

"Relax," the man continued, tossing the gun somewhere in a pile of styrofoams and cardboard boxes as he saw her trembling form and her scrambling hands, which were no doubt trying to find a protection of some sort. One emerged later with a small knife, and she held it in front of her like a threat. To Hiroki, it was a truly pathetic sight. "I won't scoop so low as harming a pregnant woman. You don't have to be afraid of me, Ane-san."

"Shut up!" Chiyo screeched, slowly standing up. "Don't move!"

"Now now," he assured. "A gun is one thing, but I think we both know how effective a knife is against me. Please settle down. You brought me here to talk, didn't you?"

"No I didn't! I'm going to kill you! You heard me? I'm going to kill you!"

"Sorry, but I don't plan on being killed by anyone soon," he said. "Much less a helpless lady carrying an unborn child."

She snarled at him. "Drop your fucking act!"

The curved lips fell flat. "Let's be realistic here, Ane-san-"

"Shut up!" Chiyo screamed, moving closer and closer with a menacing look. "You listen to _me_! Do you have any idea how much I've suffered over the past twenty years? DO YOU?" Her chest heaved up and down with anger as she ranted on. "It's all your fault, you and that whore who dared to steal someone else's husband! You ruined everything that I have!"

Hiroki was silent.

The corner of her lips picked up, and a bitter laugh rang through the room. "I've waited my revenge, my beloved _stepson_," she said, sneering, sarcasm dripped from the last word like venom. "At first, I thought it'd be enough if _she_ just dies_-_" The man narrowed his eyes at this. "-Yes, it was me. What do you think?"

"I can hardly care," Hiroki said. "I don't remember her anyway... What was her name again? Isabella? Elissa? Eliza-"

"Shut-up!"

He stared at her coolly. "Hmph."

"You will die," she went on in a calmer voice. "This room hasn't been opened in five years. I'll fix the door and lock you in and no one will find your body until it starts to stink of rotten flesh."

"Papa will never let my death pass so easily," he pointed out.

"Oh," she said with a smirk. "That won't matter, because he's going to be out of the picture as well. The marine has already located the drug houses, and I've already ordered arrangements to be made of him meeting with the commodore at the very moment. They'll fight, and he'll either be dead by the end of today or arrest. Once he is, _I_ am in command of the family. Of course, I'll set up a mock search as well, but they won't find you, and even if they do, it'd too late!"

_Really,_ Hiroki mused to himself. _I wonder how is she going to kill me in a state like this. _"You're betraying Papa? You're only in this for the money and power, aren't you? You don't love him at all." He closed his eyes and reopened them. "Makes me wonder if you're really carrying his child."

And her expression faltered.

"...You're not?"

"Shut. Up."

"Wow, and I was taking a blind stab...Is it Pinacho-dono's?" he whispered, and tsked his tongue when she paled. "Ane-san, have you ever thought about what would happen if your plan fails?"

"I just have to make sure that it won't."

He opened his mouth to answer back, but a loud boom cut his words short. The noise came from below them, and soon, distant screams of civilians followed. He glanced down, and back up.

Chiyo looked back at him with a victorious sneer.

"See?" She burst into laughter. "Let me give you a clear picture of what will happen, dear boy! They're fighting now. By the end of the day, one or both of them will die. Both ways, Takamaru is dead meat. _You_ will die. You have no ways of escaping. Maybe you should try jumping out of the window?" she mocked. "And lastly, I will hunt down the two pirates who took refuge under you, and kill them both."

His eyes widened, the smile completely absent from his face. "You saw that too?"

She lunged with the knife aiming for his heart.

"_Point two hundred._" He stopped her, and watched her slumped unwillingly down onto the ground as if her bones were made of jello. Her face exploded into outrage as he walked away from her and headed for the window.

"DAMN YOU TO HELL, WORTHLESS BASTARD!" she screamed, receiving no attention back.

Hiroki looked down below just in time to see the ground bursting into pieces. A person- red-hair and familiar in frame- leaped out, and he smiled with amusement. _You can't be patient, can you, Kidd-kun?_

_What a lucky person. _

He turned back towards the woman on the floor, who looked back at him with fear and hatred in her eyes.

"What are you going to do to me?" she demanded. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No," he replied. "I told you before, I won't harm a pregnant woman. Besides, killing you is pointless and irrelevant."

Chiyo said nothing.

"However, it's true. We can't live under the same roof any longer, or one day we'll really end up slaughtering each other's throat, so..." He took the knife from her weak grip and freed her bind. In an instance, she fled as far away from him as possible.

The man held up the blade and ran his thumb along the sharp edge. It was rusty, but not dull to the point of uselessness. It would do.

He strolled casually to the antique table, placed his left hand down flat, and positioned the knife.

"What are you-" She covered her mouth with horror as she watched what happened and slumped down onto the floor once again. Blood dripped down from the edge of the table a moment later. "That was Yubitsume(1), you...What is the meaning of this!"

"I'm not doing this for you," Hiroki spoke, picking the tip of his little finger off the table and threw the knife aside. "A ruthless, selfish bitch like you hardly deserve sympathy. Although, I can hardly hate you, being a selfish ruthless bastard myself." He looked around the room and found a gray handkerchief. He picked it up and began carefully wrapping the fingertip up. Red stains soaked through the cloth as he did so. "But, for your kid who'd be born in such a family, I do feel sorry for him- a father who cares less for anyone's life but his own, a mother who'd only use him to sustain her own seat, and throwing an older brother in there?

"No, you can lie to Papa, Ane-san. To tell you the truth, I'm relief that things turn out like this." He threw the bundle to her, and she flinched as it landed by her knees. She stared up at him with disbelief. "I'm leaving. Tell Papa 'sorry' for me, will you, Ane-san? And if they still want an apology ceremony, they'll have to get someone to perform in my place."

He slung the bag of books over his shoulder and headed for the window.

"...Where do you think you're going?" Chiyo finally asked in a trembling voice.

"To the sea," he answered back, opening up the panel as high up as possible. He clutched the side, readied to lift himself up. "Tell Papa this 'Hiroki is a pirate now. He's heading for Grand Line. Don't expect him to come home.'"

"...You're crazy..." she muttered, staring at him with wild eyes, shaking her head frantically. "He hates pirates. He hates Grand Line. You of all people understand that! ...You're insane, that's what you are, to go up against him like this!" Her eyes widened as he ducked and emerged on the other side of the window outside. "...What are you doing now? You'll never survive the fall! You want suicide? You're insane!"

He smiled at her through the glass. "May I am."

Hiroki adjusted the bag on his shoulder one last time and looked down. The sleeves of his black kimono fluttered in the wind. Indeed, forty-eight stories was a long way to go down. She was right, if he jumped from this height, death was almost guaranteed.

_But he lived._

His eyes found Kidd and Killer, one fighting the don, the other, the commodore.

_If I'm meant for this, may that Devil's luck protect me too._

He pushed himself off.


	19. A Second Nuisance

**Author's Note: **Thanks to _Msaju17, allycat18, doriansburial_ (your arts kick ass, btw! I love them! :D)_, passionateinterest _and _ChibiFluffy _for reviewing!

So it's been quite a busy month for me with the end of the school year coming, the exams, the distractions, and then I caught news that Manga-hosting sites are getting shut down because of illegal scanlation groups. I was quite depressed over that 'cause One Piece isn't showing on MangaFox anymore... I really hope those corporations don't go after _Anime_-hosting sites too... :(

Sorry for the extremely late update. Hopefully, things will go smoother once June passes.

Also, I was a bit lazy on this one with grammar-editing; it was two at night when I finished this, so apologies regarding that too.

* * *

_Should I have expected any less from him? _Killer thought to himself gravely when he comprehended the situation that Kidd had put them in. He adjusted the hilts of his scythes, watching all the marine soldiers backing off further, and the three in the middle of this whole mess eying him. Kidd had on a grin, reminding him very much of a brat who was leaving the store with his arms full of desired toys. The face of the yakuza don was scrunched up with hate and disgust.

"So the other one is here," the marine commodore drawled at the sight of him.

"What are you so happy about, baka?" he called out to the redhead. "Don't you know that we're going to have to kill them both now when we could've waited for an easier escape before?"

The eyes of the two older men narrowed into slits.

"But this is much more fun," Kidd reasoned back rather unreasonably. "Besides, I'm tired of waiting!"

A vein popped on his head. "You rash little-"

_BOOM! _The ground below his feet exploded before he could finish his reprimanding, and he jumped away with hoards of stone tumbling after him. He struck them once, then twice and aimed the third time for the controller, ripping a hole in the don's rock-made stomach. His attack bought him seconds to leap away onto safer grounds with a monstrous rock claw extending closer and closer to him and finally crashing down inches by his feet.

The don snarled at him from the distance. "Who are you going to kill?"

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking," Killer snapped back coldly, and turned his eyes towards Kidd, who had a shield of weapons formed behind him, blocking every strike of the commodore's- and running towards his direction. "Oi, what are you-"

"You take care of that annoying marine!" the redhead ordered as he jumped in front of the masked man and the don, repelling a flight of pebbles speeding at lightning-speed at them. Looking back he explained, "My power isn't working on his stupid sword for some reason." He barely had time to give an "okay" and dodge when a flexing blade headed for his mask. Lunging forward, he gutted the marine the stomach with the hilt of his scythe, slamming the other man into another street, and ran for the new decided battlefield.

"That's better," he commented, as Yank stood up on his feet with marine soldiers gathering behind their leader.

"Yank-sama, we're ready to shoot!" one uniformed man shouted as they lifted their arms. "Please give the sig-"

"Get the hell outta here you no-brainers," the commodore growled at his own people, making many of them jump with surprise. "Don't mess with my fight, go into the tunnels and take care the rest of the yakuzas! I want every single one of them arrested and readied for prison!"

"Bu- But-"

He glared at the one who'd stuttered. "Are you questioning my orders?"

"No- NO SIR!"

The marine looked back at his masked opponent, who gripped the twin scythes in his hands tightly, and scowled. "Pirate scum."

"Government dog," Killer retorted back nonchalantly.

The air grew both tense and cold as the two glared dagger at each other for moments.

Finally, Yank spoke up. "Destination?"

"Raftel," the pirate answered.

"Hmph," the commodore snorted. "So you're one of _them_, huh? Maybe I should teach you to wise up before you do something stupid, boy. I've been there. The Grand Line is hardly fit for somebody so... foolish as you and your captain."

"Is a marine giving me advice?" Killer said icily.

"No," came the reply and the sound of a thin blade whipping through the air. "Call this the lesson of a lifetime."

Killer reacted instantly, and seconds later, thick ropes wrapped themselves tightly around the rapier, stopping it from mid-attack. They pushed against each other, metal screeching and red sparks flying at the friction, and then each kicked himself away.

* * *

Kidd was distracted to say the least, and it was all that stupid masked freak with a mother complex's fault.

_Where the hell did he disappear to?_ He easily dodged a shower of rocks crashing down on him, and jumped away, eyes scanning his surrounding, and finally spotting Killer down a nearby street, blade on blade with that marine commodore. A blow missed him by feet, and his attention was snapped back to the person attacking him. "Won't you give it up? You're extremely annoying!" he spat at the moving statue.

"Give it up? After what you two have done?" Takamaru rumbled, his voice like tiny earthquakes. "You're lucky if I let you two off this island alive."

"Shut up! It's not like this is the first time I heard threats!" Kidd shouted back, and activated his Devil Fruit power on his left hand while continuing to gaze at the rocks piling up on the don's right. Everything flew towards like taking their place around his arm, which grew bigger and bigger until the size rivaled his own body, and seconds passed, it was bigger than the nearest two story house. In front of him, the arm of the don was the same.

"I'll make this quick," he said, flexing his extended "fingers." He activated Repel, and sent the arm zooming in the enemy's direction, bursting the right side of the body apart. A sinister grin formed on his face. "So since you're rocks, you really _do_ have rocks for brains."

Of course, no answer.

"That was too easy," Kidd muttered, crackling his knuckles as the statue began regenerating as fast speed. "So all I have to do is keep hitting him? That's boring..."

It was until he tried to walk did he saw the trap around his legs. He looked down.

_Shit!_

"_Tug._"

Sharp edges of a thousand pebbles slashed his skin as he felt himself being pulled under, and immense pain burst everywhere. He choked and spat out the blood that got into the corner of his mouth as rocks dug into his ribcage, his bone, and just every place in general. Trying to swing his arm to resisting brought no result. Heavy footsteps of the don headed his way, Kidd hissed with rage.

"_Cemen-_"

_Like the hell am I letting you!_ "_Repel!_"

The rocky ground burst opened at the two opposing forces, and Kidd quickly got out of the confinement, jumping up and swinging a kick at the rock-made face with his Devil Fruit power tingling electricity there as well. The magnetic force blew apart the head before his feet even touched anything. He spun and swung a fist at the chest, sending sediments flying everywhere. Punches and kicks later, and the Logia was deteriorated to nothing was a mass of stones lying on the street-

And Takamaru sprung right back up.

The redhead's expression morphed from triumphant to disbelief. _He wasn't this fast before!_

The formed head tilted down at him. "You know, 'Captain' Kidd," the man began. "I really, really hate haughty little runts like you. The ones who are so over-confident about themselves."

"That's fine," Kidd said back with a puerile sass. "I don't like you either, so that makes us even!"

A rock eyebrow twitched on his face. "Because you reminded me of me."

Kidd leaped away as rocks rained down on him. "What the hell was that? Don't compare me to you!" They ignored the suddenly shouts in the distance and glared at each other. "If you're so great, then why aren't you a pirate yourself? Why are you still stuck here in South Blue dodging the laws, huh?" He sneered. "Scared? That's the difference between us, Ji-san!" He blasted a flight of stones coming his way apart.

"Scared?" The don echoed, lips pulled back into a snarl. "Hardly! Twenty years ago, I went into Grand Line just like everyone else. That flood of pirates means business, and business means money. I was out on sea even before you were born, brat! So why didn't I make it? Why am I still here, you ask?" Kidd heard the sound of rocks being broken apart, and shadow fell over the man's eyes. "Because I was cursed by a monster.

"His name is Whitebeard." He spat the name like it was something disgusting.

_Whitebeard?_ The redhead frowned. _One of the Four Emperors?_

_No wonder he's scared of Grand Line. _

"Everywhere on that sea," Takamaru went on. "Only death awaits pirates like you. That's why it's call the Pirate's Graveyard."

Kidd said nothing.

"That's why it's better for you to die by my hand!" _BAM! _A fraction of a second later his body slammed into the concrete wall of a near by building by an enormous block that seemed to have emerged out of nowhere. His bones cried out in pain at the impact.

_Damn it..._ The block crumbled, and he felt himself dropping from the air like a fly. He hit the hard ground a moment later. _I didn't see it coming._

"Dead yet?" The voice of his enemy rumbled.

His field of vision was beginning to blur, but though still conscious, he didn't move. _I have the finish this quick._

"No? You're still breathing," it said, and a hoard of rocks began to climb over his body, weighing down on his chest. Seeing this attack twice before, Kidd knew what was coming. He kicked himself up, and slammed a shoulder against the rough, rocky body before he could be buried. The don howled and stumbled backwards.

Kidd didn't wait for him to recover this time. He gathered up as much weapon in his hands as he could and sent them flying in groups on the man's direction, creating a shower of guns and blades, breaking the rocky body into pieces.

_No, not enough. _His head throbbed and pounded. _He's still made of rocks. Whatever I do, he's going to recover from it._

_Then I'll just have to scatter him._ The rain of weapons kept pouring, guns and blades reused over and over again. Rocks were flying all over the place.

Kidd took his right hand and activated his power there, and blasted each and every stone in random directions as far away as possible.

Minutes later, he more or less caught his breath and stabilized his mind, and the don was nowhere to be seen.

_Where's Killer?_ Was his next thought as he wiped away some blood of his face. _Is he done yet? We need to get out of here quickly before the yakuza reforms his body. _Strangely, there seemed to be two places where sound of battling were coming from. _This is getting confusing. I need to find Killer now!_

He began running toward the nearest one.

And tripped.

Kidd hissed with annoyance as he lifted himself up from the ground, shooting a glare at the object- three large spikes that were sticking out from the pebbles. He bent down and tugged them out. They were attached to something rather furry and familiar- a red coat that the don was wearing. His face broke into a grin.

"Nice coat," he commented, admiring the rows of spikes that were lining either sides of collar. It was a little too big for him but... "Think I'll keep it."

He slung it over his shoulder and proceeded his search for Killer.

* * *

Minutes later after the first charge, both of them were covered in gushes, Killer's cuts more numerous but shallow and Yank's less but deeper by the difference in their blades.

"Not bad at all," the commodore reviewed his injuries. "Who knows, you might actually have a chance sailing Grand Line. It's too bad that I won't let you have the chance to find out."

"I don't thank marines when they offer me compliments," Killer said back.

"Hmph," Yank merely responded. "That was the truth."

"No it's not," the masked man said. "You're not a prophet, therefore, you cannot claim to speak truth."

"I won't drag philosophy into this fight, Massacre Man. Truth or not, I am here to stop you before you can venture into Grand Line as well as get rid of all crime traces on this island in the name of justice. I prefer not to make matters more complicated than it already is." The commodore held up his rapier. "This is the sword that took down one of Big Mom's top men. Care to have a taste of it's full power?"

Killer grounded his teeth, ready to dodge. The flexible whipped once and he jumped, thinking the attack was for him. However, the silver phantom bypassed him by feet and sliced into the buildings behind, all of which exploded in terrifying screams of civilians, and in seconds, fell by the cut- all eight of them.

_Aren't there people inside?_ The blond thought with wide eyes.

He turned to a hard-faced Yank. "You call this justice? This is exactly why the World Government disgusts me!" he spat.

"So you still care," the marine said. "That's how all pirates were before entering Grand Line. I wonder how long your empathy for human beings will last. How long before that heart of your turn completely to evil and how long until you start to destroy and kill lives like you need air. I've seen many gone mad, and you seen like the perfect example. 'Killer', what an interesting name your parents gave you."

Killer felt his blood beginning to boil. "You are not a prophet," he repeated, spinning his scythes, and charged. "Therefore, you cannot claim to speak truth!"

CLANK! Their blades met and the rapier swung along the curve, spun with the single scythes and knocked it away. Taking the opportunity, he attacked with the second scythes, missing by inches before he felt something gutting him in the stomach. His flew backwards, only to stop by the screech of his heels.

"I am a commodore who once served in Marineford," Yank said. "Don't belittle my abilities, rookie. You've seen nothing yet thus far."

_I need to calm down_, the blond thought to himself, blood dripping from the bottom of his mask as he held the throbbing wound. He'd never meet anyone this physically powerful before. Normally, such a kick wouldn't even hurt, and what was more, he'd never been this pissed off with an opponent before either. This commodore was the perfect example of the kind of marine that he hated- the ones who speak so highly of themselves and justify their every action solely by the fact that they serve the World Government. This type was even more despicable than the money-grubbing kind.

_Calm down._

His drumming heart slowed in pace, but somehow, the rage refused to falter.

There were shouting in the distance, but he paid no heed to it.

Yank's eyes averted towards the sounds, but turned back immediately a second later, his eyebrows wrinkled in a thoughtful frown. "Hm? The air...?" The commodore stared hard at the pirate in front of him, and a moment later, the answer hit him. "This is... What a strange form of _that_ ability."

No sooner than that, Killer charged again. The blades met once more, but this time, the masked man kicked himself up, kicked the collarbone of the marine before Yank could even comprehend what he was doing, and smashed his feet down on the other man's face. He jumped back down and swung a scythe without hesitation at the neck. The attack was dodged. He kneed at the gut, and gave one final kick, sending the body backwards.

The commodore coughed blood and slowly stood up. "What a sudden change in speed and style," he said coolly. "But that's not going to be enough-" The man stopped to catch the extended rope with his sword. "You are pretty gifted."

"Again," Killer snapped. "I don't thank marines."

"That doesn't matter to me, but answer this, Massacre Man," Yank said. "The people of D, are you one of them?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he snarled back.

The marine stared at him. "You are determined to reach Raftel, are you not? Got a dream?"

"I told you, Kidd is going to become the next King of Pirates, and I will make sure he gets there at any price," Killer said. "I have no other dreams."

Yank chuckled. "I guess not then. Ruthlessness isn't determination." He raised his rapier. "I've wasted enough time here. I am going to finish you once and for all."

"That's not going to happen."

"You are no prophet either, pirate." The blade of the rapier shone off sunlight. " _Baila de Whip!_"

The silver phantoms of the blade zoomed for him in hundreds. _Shit!_

And as soon as he thought that, a wall of weapons took over his field of vision. He spun around and saw a running Kidd coming his way, dragging something behind him.

Just as he was about to speak, he heard Yank howling with pain beyond the wall of arms, and Kidd stopped in his track, frowning, before raising a hand to drop the wall.

* * *

The spine of the man snapped beneath his feet, followed by the sound of ribcage bones being shattered into pieces. The stranger was most definitely by now dead.

"Sorry," Hiroki said as the man, wearing marine uniform, twitched for one last time and fell limp. He smiled and looked up, quite content with the satisfied feeling inside of him to have actually survived the fall with zero injuries and landed perfectly- Well, perfect, if one did not count the sacrifice made to insure his survival.

All around him, men- some marines and some he recognized to be Shinoda-Kai's own men- shouted and screamed with surprise and disbelief.

"What the hell is going on?" one marine screamed, holding his rifles with trembling hands. "Who is this person? Do we shoot?"

"Hiroki-sama!" one underling called out to him. "He's here to save us!"

_Wrong._

"He's the son of their boss! Get him!"

"But-"

"Our orders are to capture every single one of them!" a fiercer marine said. "And he's the second-in-command! We can't let him get away or Yank-sama will have our heads!"

"That's not nice," Hiroki said to the man.

"Shu- Shut up!"

_Bam!_ The bullet flew past his shoulder, and that sounded the starting signal.

The next moment, the neck bone of the nearest marine snapped.

"_Point Thirty-One_."

He quietly stepped out the circle that had surrounded him, walked three steps and looked back to admire his handiwork; the nerve point on their neck disrupted simultaneously, and their bodies fell down in sync. "Well?" he said to the stunned crowd of frozen marine who'd seen this. "If you're worrying about their lives, then I'm sorry to say that they're all dead. That was a vital nerve point between the brain and the rest of the body."

Not a single one of them budged.

"But if I may ask, where are the pirates? I'm looking for them."

"Li- Like we're going to tell you!"

"...That's too bad then," he said. "You're not letting me leave either, are you?"

"That's right!"

Hiroki smiled at the man. "Sorry, but I'm in a hurry."

The ground suddenly shook and vibrated, and they all looked towards a part of the city to see several building falling down at once. "...What is this now? Damn those pirates!""

_Found them._

He looked back at the crowd of marines. "Please get out of my way."

"You're not getting pass us!" they shouted back.

Several minutes later, he stepped carefully out of the little field of bodies on the ground, and headed for his destination.

* * *

Kidd and Killer stared from one smiling yakuza- who was almost, _almost_, beaming- to the wordless, but enraged marine who lay paralyzed on the ground with a dagger sticking from his back, and back to Hiroki again.

"You guys have the most unusual tendency to wreck havoc every time I leave you alone," he said, breaking the silence and walking passed Yank. "Though, we don't have much time left, so let's go."

"...What?" Kidd said. "We're not going anywhere with you- Oi, Killer, where are _you_ going?" he yelled at the masked man, who turned around and answered him.

"To the ship, where else?"

"But what are we suppose to do about this guy?" he demanded.

"You ask him."

_You ask- Wait._ Kidd turned and look at Hiroki, who was very positively near beaming, as if something wonderful had happened. _Don't tell me..._

"I'm in the crew now," the black-haired man said, and bowed slightly. "Please take care of me, Sencho."

Kidd furrowed his eyebrows. "...Hey..." he muttered to himself as the situation dawned upon him. Annoyed, he ran after Killer with fists clenched. "You masked freak, I know you have something to do with this!" he shouted. "Since when did I give you permission to recruit any crew members? And why that one? Explain yourself!"

"I didn't do anything," the masked freak said back calmly. "He invited himself on board."

"Well, he can't do that!"

"Tell it to him." Killer nodded towards the man who was following them.

So he did. "You can't join without my permission!"

"But there's no way you'd say no," came the confident reply.

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Hiroki held up a finger. "First of all, there is no way you can get off this island without my help, as I have destroyed your ship-" "And don't you think that we've forgotten about that part either!" "-and have begun rebuilding it. However, I'm only half way done with it since I had so little time. So trying to sail with a half built ship without me will just get you killed before even reaching Meridiano. You need me so I can complete what I've started." He held up another finger. "Second of all, a ship without a shipwright sailing on Grand Line is stupid, plain and simple. The sea storms and the Sea Kings on that ocean are the worst out of all water bodies in the world. A pirate ship is bound to be destroyed or at least damaged once during the trip. If you have a skilled shipwright, he could fix and build a new ship for free lest you want to pay a huge sum of money to some guild of workers to do the repairs."

A third finger. "Besides, rule of the game: you can hardly call a two-men crew a crew at all. Three is the minimum."

"He's right, you know," Killer agreed.

"You're not helping!" Kidd barked at him, more ticked than he'd ever been his whole life. "Shit, I already have you to deal with and now another one has to come into the picture! Don't think that I don't know about the pact you formed with him!" he continued to accuse an impassive masked man. "I can see the similarities between you two rich, stoic son of bastards already! Don't you dare forget that I'm captain!" He faced Hiroki and gave him a good glare. "Understand?"

"Hai, hai, Kidd-sama," Hiroki chirped back.

"...I still don't trust you!"

"I know."

"Good!"

They walked quietly side by side for minutes down the streets, ignoring the unnerving gazes of the citizens through their windows.

"Say, is that Papa's coat?" Hiroki said after a while.

Kidd held up the coat that he was dragging. "You mean this? Yeah, but I took it, so it's mine now."

Their new shipwright stared at it. "The one with those spikes, huh? I think that's his favorite-"

"I said, 'it's my coat!'" the captain snapped.

"...Calm down, I won't fight you for it or anything... But you're three size too small to wear it anyway."

"Che," Kidd huffed. "I'll grow into it."

They walked into the rocky beach and began following the shore line.

"Oi, what's with your little finger anyway? It's leaving a blood trail."

"This?" Hiroki held up his left hand, where he'd earlier performed Yubitsume. Right now, he could barely feel the dull ache, much less than noticing the droplets of blood that were tailing them. "It's got cut off, not that big of a deal. I'll wrap it up later- you guys are more mess than I am anyway. Oh, the ship is right up ahead. I've loaded most of the stuff in while I was building her, and threw away most of the food supplies that rotted, but we should have dry food as well, so we should be set to go."

"Are you sure she'd sail?" Killer asked.

"Don't worry," he answered as they walked up to their new ship.

Kidd stared up at it with wonder. To tell the truth, he had been expecting a shitty, dull-colored ship with failing sails and lame sticks for mast, giving his impression of its shipwright and the fact that while Cross-Blade's old ship had been grand, it was still old. This ship actually looked nice, despite being incomplete.

"The model I was aiming for was originally Bilander, but she ended up as small-sized Carrack-like warship instead. I haven't installed a cannon system yet, so you'll have to wait if you want to test shooting," Hiroki informed.

"Good enough for me," Kidd said with a grin, readied to hop on.

"Wait."

The boy stopped. "What?"

Hiroki smiled. "She need to be named first before boarding."

"What? I'm not wasting time here for a name," Kidd snapped, glaring at him. "Besides... I'm not good with names."

Silence filled between them. In the distance, thundering footsteps of their chasers could be heard.

"Santa Maria," Killer finally said, and without warning, he hopped aboard.

_Maria? Of course, that bastard..._ Their shipwright raised a questioning eyebrow at this. "He has a mother complex," Kidd replied.

"Ah..."

* * *

Two days later, in an office inside a marine warship, Yank- with his injuries treated- bared his teeth at the talking Den Den Mushi in front of him.

"...Must understand, commodore, the balance of South Blue is at stake here. You were sent only to perform an inspection- something that the Shinoda-kai has never failed before-, not capture imaginary criminals."

"So what you're telling me to do is to let them off the hook?" he growled. "After all they have done? Listen, What's-Your-Face, they might not be violent like pirates are, but once you are co-dependent on them, there is no way that they'll let you out! They're tax evaders, drug-smugglers and pimps! Why are you stopping me when I'm trying to rid South Blue of its biggest syndicate? How much did Shinoda Takamaru bribe you?"

"For now, as long as the this Age of Pirates continue, the Shinoda-kai remains an essential bounty-hunting organization of South Blue," the officer on the other end went on. "We cannot remove them, otherwise South Blue will be in an uproar. Your report is invalid."

Yank snatched the Den Den Mushi off the table and shook it in his grip. "Listen to me you lowly ass-lickers! I found a whole network tunnel under that fucking city, plain evidences of tax evasion _and _three warehouses full of illegal drugs that are ready to enter their fucking drug ring, and now you're telling me they're innocent?"

"I repeat. Your report is invalid."

He snarled. "Go screw yourselves!" A split second later, he threw the snail across the room and slammed a fist down on his desk.

Once a little bit calmer, he dug into his pocket, pulled out his own personal transponder and dialed for an old friend at Marineford, ignoring the annoying "blup"-ing of the snail, waiting. Finally, he picked up. The blank face of the snail morphed into that of a dark scowl and frowning eyes.

"What is it?"

"Akainu."

"Yank," said the admiral. "You're stationed to South Blue, aren't you?"

"Yeah," the commodore said. "Here, justice is corrupted."


	20. Inter Arc: Within the Course of Two Days

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17, allycat18, Kuvatin _and _doriansburial _for reviewing!

Well, I was so tired when I finished the last chapter that I forgot to do the one uttermost important thing I have planned; do a profile on Hiroki. Since he's an OC, and since I figure that some of you might not get him along with the fact that I suck at description, I thought it's only fair and logical. Just for the future, I'll going to do a profile for every OC in the crew (and some not even OC or in the crew). If you want me to profile any past OC, just contact me at any time and I'll do it the the following chapter. ^^

Here we go!

Name: Shinoda(last) Hiroki(first)

Age: 23

Eye Color: Black

Hair: Black, short, spiky, wind-blown, whatever. A theme in Kidd's crew from what fans can gather is that they're very punk/heavy metal/rock star-like, right? For this guy, since he wears a traditional kimono, his hair is probably the only feature that'd fit it- that is unless you get him dressed up somehow. You know those Japanese rock stars with those wild spiky hair that's been gel-ed a thousand times over? That's his hair, and it's natural, just so you know.

Height: Around Killer's height, give or take an inch

Fighting Ability: Master in Chii Jutsu (a family martial art), hand-to-hand combatant and close-range fighter.

Interests: Making fun of people, anything technological, anything that amuses him, pulling pranks, gambling, fighting (and watching fights), riddles and puzzles

Characteristics: Here's the only two you really need to know: he's selfish and ruthless. If you think that Killer or Kidd is bad, then you haven't seen this guy. He may act nice, but he takes the meaning of those words to a whole new level if it's necessary. Others are; he's always smiling (not a big smile, just a tiny one), and he's well-mannered.

One Unique Thing About Him: Hiroki is a person of his words, meaning that he'd never tell an outright lie and he'd always keep his promises. However, because of that, he plays around with words a lot, so it is not wise to trust him unless you worded everything perfectly as so there is no loophole. If you can get him to swear something that way, he's going to accomplish it for you no matter what. Other than that, be careful about what you wish for. For example, remember the part where Kidd called him a nobody, and he guaranteed that Kidd is going to regret that? His revenge is coming up in... three or four chapters.

Is that everything about him? No, I left out a lot for the story, these are just some basics. Did I draw a picture of him? Yes, but I won't post it because I completely screwed up and ended up bishifying him. He's not ugly or anything, but just... No. -_-' Imagine his look however you want.

Due to the extra arc chapter, I crammed two Inter Arcs into one. So next chapter will be them heading for Grand Line. Please point out any grammar mistakes I might have missed, as I suck at self-editing. XP

(1)-Chama- an honorific that is a combination of "-sama" (for higher status) and "-chan" (usually for younger kids, but usages range). Usually used as a friendly tease or a cutesy show of affection towards a really young child born to parents of higher status.

* * *

"_The Void Century?" An eyebrow raised in surprise at the unusual request he'd just gotten. "Sure we got a library. It's right within our building on the twenty-sixth floor. But... information on the Void Century? There is a reason why it's "Void", Killer-kun."_

_The masked man in front of him remained unmoved. "I don't care if it's just a mention. If you have anything on it, bring it to me. I need it."_

"_Hm," Hiroki hummed. "We might. My grandfather was quite the book collector, and of course, since we hardly obey governmental laws, being who we are, I can't say that we don't have anything on it. I'm pretty sure that Papa left the library alone when he passed away too." He glanced towards the locked door and back. "However, it _is _illegal with death penalty if one is even caught in possession of anything to do with the Void Century."_

"_I know," Killer said. "I'm a pirate with a bounty. That's enough reason for them to kill me off anyway. What's the harm?"_

"_...It's a fearful subject, considering the Buster Call years ago in Ohara."_

_Killer lifted up his head. "It was a Buster Call? The government usually keep things like that quiet. How do you know?"_

"_I guess," he answered honestly. "Something that wiped an entire island out? What else could it be?"_

_Silence dragged on in the room saved for Kidd's shallow breathing in a nearby bed. Hiroki felt a sudden chilling aura seconds later emitting from the man in front of him. Finally, Killer broke the tension. "So will you do it?"_

_He smiled wider. Would he? "I don't do free service, Killer-kun," he said. "If I have to put myself on line for this, be sure that I will expect something equally valuable back. In a deal, you can't get something out of nothing."_

"_What do you want?"_

"_Let me join your crew."_

_Another long pause as Killer lifted his mask up his direction._

_"You? Why would you want to join a pirate crew?" the masked man asked suspiciously._

_"Well..." He thought about for a moment before answering. "Let's just say that I'm looking for something. So? Let me join?"_

_"I am in no place to make that sort of decision since I'm not the captain."_

_The looked over at the real 'Captain'. "But you said that he's not your captain, isn't that right?"_

_"He's still the captain of the crew. If you want to join, you ask him, not me."_

_"Jeez..." the yakuza muttered under his breath. "This is confusing; he's the captain of the crew with no one to order around. You're part of the crew- first mate, in fact- yet you refuses to acknowledge him as captain. Where exactly will I stand in this?"_

_"I do not take someone weaker than me as my superior," Killer explained simply._

_Hiroki looked back from Kidd. "Unlike to you, those sort of things doesn't matter to me. My question remains, 'May I join the crew?' But you say to ask the captain, so I take that you don't mind?"_

_"I am in no position to care for those things."_

_"Excellent." He leaped off the desk he was sitting on and began heading for the door. With his back still at Killer, he gave a wave. "I'll be back. In the mean time, please keep yourselves quiet."_

* * *

The Front Page

**REAR ADMIRAL "RED FLAG" DRAKE TURNS TO PIRACY  
The Decimation of Three Corallean Islands Shocked the North Blue Headquarter**

_Two weeks ago in North Blue... islands of Corallean Archipelago... former Rear Admiral Diez "Red Flag" Drake... had once been a war hero of the Zambio-Pruskian War... death of thousands of Corallean people... battle stopped by the eruption of a volcano... He escaped with a fleet of followers and two stolen marine warships...last spot flying a pirate flag near Grand Line... enemy of the World Government... must be captured at all cost._

**WANTED  
**DIEZ DRAKE  
Dead or Alive  
80,000,000 Beri

* * *

You Cannot Escape Fate

Dawn broke the horizon, spraying a shower of gold across the ocean floor and dimming the stars and the moon in the sky. The tide rose and fell like a wavering blanket, rocking a ship that was but a tiny speck in the middle of the majestic sea. All in all, it was a lovely morning.

Underneath the deck, sounds of pounding and drilling of machine could be heard already by the time Killer had awaken. By the time Kidd got up, what remnants of the night sky had already vanished from sight, and their shipwright had emerged from beneath.

"Good morning," Hiroki, covered from head to toe with sawdust, initiated the first words to be spoken of the day. His captain grunted. His other crew mate did not even bother with an answer. The starting atmosphere was ambiguous.

That was, until Kidd's stomach let out a loud growl. Then it turned awkward.

"I'm hungry," the redhead stated five seconds later.

Silence.

"So go make breakfast," Killer advised.

Kidd scowled darkly at him, but of course, like all other times, his display of annoyance was not taken into account. "Oi," he called out, catching the attention their newest crew member who turned around to be greeted by a slight and very suspicious grin. "Can you cook?"

Hiroki arched an eyebrow. "Me?" he asked.

"Yeah, you."

"To tell you the truth, I never tried before. But it can't be very hard, can it, since it's just like putting together a functioning machine." He began heading for the half-constructed structure in the middle of the deck that was to be their living quarters. "The kitchen is nearly completed, so most of the equipments should be working. I'll see what I can make."

The small grin bloomed into a victorious smirk as Kidd watched him disappearing into a room. He'd been waiting for the day when he'd be off the hook for cooking duty for way too long, being stuck on the ship with Killer all that time. Now, finally, someone who was willing to do the servant's work came along! May that bastard wasn't so bad after all.

Killer watched the sinister expression and wondered to himself just what he was thinking when he picked this moron.

Thirty minutes later, said expression was completely wiped off of Kidd's face as Hiroki pushed in front of them a bowl of something black that once resembled noodles.

"Go on," he urged them, looking none too worried himself. "I was trying to make miso ramen soup... but it seems like I burnt it a little, though I vaguely remembered putting a full pot of water, and the burner was turned on at moderate... I might have put the stove together with a little too much heating power than I originally intended. Still-" He folded together his hands. "-It doesn't look too bad... Just a little dry and burnt..."

Kidd's expression and posture remained unchanged, but somehow, Hiroki thought he heard a ghost wailing in the distance.

"How is anybody capable of burning soup?" he heard him ask.

_Well..._ "I'm sure it happens all the time," he tried to assure.

"How about no," Kidd said flatly.

"..." Hiroki had no response.

"Kidd," Killer said a moment later, looking up from the paper.

"What?"

"I still expect breakfast."

* * *

The Inside Cover

"**PIRATE HUNTER" RORONOA ZORO CAPTURED BY MARINE CAPTAIN MORGAN**

_Treason unknown... said to have terrorized citizens and assaulted marine officials... Famed pirate hunter, having kill countless fearsome pirates over the year... the East Blue Headquarter is pending for a pardon, but so far, Captain Morgan has yet responded._

* * *

The Insult of a Lifetime

"_Repel!_"

Kidd's inside soared with glee as Killer flew backward due to the opposing magnetic force, all the speed and momentum turned right back at him. Now, for the first time during their training on the ship, it was the masked man's body crashing into the rails and his hands gripping the edge of the desk, pulling himself up.

"That's not going on work against me anymore, is it, Killer!" the redhead remarked, head held high with hubris. "Too bad, I guess I got stronger than you."

"No you did not," came the instance answer. "Quite the contrary, you got weaker."

_What?_ Kidd's brows furrowed as Killer came at him once again with spinning scythes. Reacting like he had previously he held out one electrocuting hand. "_Repel!_"

The scythes flew backwards, but Killer did not. A split second later, a fist collided with his left shoulder, another hand grabbed his head, slamming his skull into the ground. Wood broke into pieces around the impact.

"Rage is blindness," Killer repeated one of his many proverbs. "Pride is deafness. The worst to be during a battle is both blind and deaf. I don't know where you got this notion that just because you gained one ability you became powerful, or maybe this stupid ego of yours existed all along and somehow mutated into this sort of problem along the way. Either scenario, I won't let it continue."

Kidd bit back a wince, getting up from the broken deck.

"Shut up!" he said back.

"Don't think that just because you defeated one, you can defeat all other. That Logia's ability was just a stroke of luck. There are plenty of things that works against of a Devil Fruit like yours," Killer went on. "A Devil Fruit user with an ability that is a natural rival to yours. A fighter who doesn't use any metal-made weapon. And that commodore who used a rapier, do you know why your power had no effect on his sword, even though it's made of steel?"

Kidd fumed silently.

"The edge of the blade is lined with tiny specks of Seastone, a special mineral that has the same elemental composition as sea water, meaning that it has the same effect on Devil Fruit users as the sea. Not only that, gold, silver, copper, bronze are only some of the most common elements that possess no magnetic field. Take my mask for example. Why do you think my scythes were blasted away, and yet I wasn't? My mask is made of stainless steel. Use your brain once in a while won't kill you, baka."

The redhead's lips pulled back into a snarl. "And who the fuck are you? The mother of all lectures?" he shot back.

A second later he found himself flying through six thick walls, landing finally on the rear deck of the ship. Wincing, he sat up, clutching his side with pain- he had forgotten just how hard Killer kicks, after all, Killer's foot hadn't visited his gut in almost two weeks.

Hiroki looked through the new holes most unhappily.

"Take it easy while this ship is still in process please. I have enough to do for now."

For the rest of the day, the masked man refused to speak to Kidd.

* * *

On the Third Page

**WEST BLUE MAFIA DON JOINS THE AGE OF PIRATES**

_Capone "Gang" Bege, leader of the Capone Family... Dead bodies of syndicate members were discovered three days ago drifting along coast lines, the rest of the syndicates... Reported by a surviving lieutenant that "Gang" Bege has officially declared himself a pirate captain... Bailaston, not yet recovered from the attack by "Fire Fist" Ace, are now expecting reinforcements to deal with "Gang" Bege._

**WANTED  
**CAPONE BEGE  
Dead or Alive  
22,000,000 Beri

* * *

Late Bloomer

Kidd woke up the next morning, body aching like he'd never experienced before. His muscles hurt from the fight yesterday, his side was still in pain, but most of all, what bothered him the worst were the aches between his stiffed joints. The muscles he could massage, the kicked wound he could ease, but no matter how hard he stretched, his bones only got worse and worse.

_Damn you, Killer! What did I do to you to deserve this?_ he thought bitterly, cranking his neck.

"When I see you later-"

And that was when he knew that something was very, _very_ wrong. He clasped a hand over his frozen mouth and closed his lips, then cleared his throat.

"Eustass Kidd," he said his own name, just to make sure that he heard himself right.

He was right.

_What the hell happened to my voice? It's... cracking and hoarse..._

Kidd headed for the kitchen, determined to get an explanation. He threw the door open, and his crew mates looked up.

"What's wrong?" Hiroki asked as soon as he saw the face, trying to screw into place the last piece of the almost completed toaster.

Strangely, the captain looked over at his first mate instead with the angriest glare that he'd seen in a long time. The shipwright stepped out of the way as Kidd advanced towards Killer with clenched fist, wondering just what the hell was going on. _Does it take this long for him to get mad? Not likely. But he was sleeping up until now..._

"You..." Kidd rasped.

Killer set down his newspaper. "Your joints hurt?" was the immediate question.

The captain was taken aback. "How do you know?" he demanded.

"Really..." Killer muttered after a moment. "I was expecting you to never hit that stage, being eighteen. I guess a late bloomer is a late bloomer."

Questions marks popped above Kidd's head. "What stage?"

"Wait," Hiroki interrupted the conversation. "You mean...?"

The masked man nodded.

"What?" More than angry, he was beginning to get confused.

"Wow, Kidd-chama(1)-" _Kidd-chama? _His expression twitched. "- you're really late!" the black-haired man exclaimed. "I hit that stage when I was thirteen."

"Fifteen here," Killer offered.

No, scratch that, he was still pissed. "What stage are you two talking about? What I am late for? And what does it have to do with my voice? Answer my questions now! That's a Captain's Order!"

"Okay," Hiroki answered. "But first, another question, Sencho. Is this the first time your joints hurt?"

Kidd crossed his arms and frowned. Was this? He fumbled through his memories. No, no this wasn't the first time. "There was this period of time when I was fourteen. My joints were hurting for about two months straight for no reason," he recalled. "But that was the only time, and I thought that it was because I got injured somehow, but couldn't remember how."

"A growth spurt stopped short?"

"Who knows," Killer said. "He's his own special specimen of human being."

"That makes two of us!" the special specimen shot back. The somewhat-normal specimen in black kimono sweat-dropped. _These two..._

"Hmph," Killer disregarded the comeback, flipping a page of the newspaper. "If you must know, I think that you're resuming puberty. Which is why you sound like a woman."

Kidd burst into flame, and every machine in the room rattled and exploded apart at his fury. "I DO NOT SOUND LIKE A WOMAN!" he roared.

"Oi..." Hiroki sighed exasperatingly, staring down at his stinging hands, and at the ignited, no longer usable toaster.

* * *

The Back Cover

**ISLE OF PEARL ATTACKED BY MYSTERIOUS FORCE, DISMEMBERED ALIVE BODY PARTS**

_Isle of Pearl in North Blue... Victims- including a bodiless talking head, a man with eight arms but no legs, a woman with pitchforks for limbs... "I remember seeing a white bear, and a shadow of a young man with a sword," recalled... Investigators and Grand Line scientists are sent to unveil the attack and revert the damages... "On his shirt was a Jolly Roger," said another victim. "He had a hat, and side burns with goatee. When we asked for his name, he refused to give one"... Zero deaths, but numerous targets appeared have swapped body parts and in some cases, became ab-human... Mutated, but otherwise alive... North Blue Headquarter is currently going through profile records to locate..._

* * *

By the Name

"Isn't she gorgeous?" Hiroki proudly held up a giant sculpture of the half naked body of a woman. Half-naked, because there were only half of her body. Everything below her curvy waist disappeared as carved water foams. "I use the Pirate Empress' bounty poster as reference because I want to make her more authentic and beautiful, and I did. You think she can rival Boa Hancock in a beauty contest?"

Kidd blinked dully. Since he never found that Shichibukai woman attractive in any way except the fact that she was undeniably beautiful, he saw no point in comparing. "Sure..."

Hiroki frowned and set the sculpture down and examined his work critically. "What's wrong with it? Is she not pretty enough? Maybe I should call Killer-san over."

The captain snorted. "Leave that bookworm alone," he said, remembering the stacks of books scattering around the newly built room of the masked man when he was taking a tour of the interior of the ship. "Why did you waste your time carving a woman for anyway?"

"It's not a waste of time," the shipwright told him. "I carved her to be the figurehead for the bow."

_For the bow?_ Kidd narrowed his eyes. "You _what?_" he hissed, not believing what he'd heard.

"Yes," Hiroki answered, as if nothing was wrong with that. "Since she's Santa Maria, I thought that it'd be appropriate make the figurehead a woman as well-"

"Are you crazy?" Kidd snapped, eyes blazing with vexation. "A _woman_? For our _figurehead_? We're PIRATES, not perverts! A figurehead of a ship is the first impression on other people of its crew! How do you think we'll be looked at with this thing sailing in front of us? Nobody will ever take us seriously!"

"But-"

"And why the hell is she naked?" he kept on going. "Can't you be modest enough to carve her with some clothes on at the very least? Don't think just because her hair covers up parts of her breasts that this looks anywhere less perverted ...I get it! You're a pervert aren't you?" he accused blatantly.

"...No, I'm not, I swear-"

"If our figurehead is going to be anything, it'd be the skull of a sea monster!" Kidd declared. "I want a sea monster!"

Hiroki's mouth drooped down with disappointment, but otherwise remained calm. "...And I spent five hours on this too."

Another five hours later...

Kidd grinned satisfyingly at the new artwork presented. "Not bad," he complimented the white, wood-carved giant skull that took up half of the deck space. "Not bad at all. It looks like a real thing, I like it. We'll use this as our figurehead."

Hiroki patted away the sawdust from his hair, sneezed, and glanced at the sculpture of unwanted Santa Maria. With a small sigh, he got to work putting the skull into place. _Too bad_, he thought. _She's such a beauty, and we won't even get to use her. Maybe I can sell her on the next island for some back-up money. She'd fetch a good price. While I'm at it, I should probably also stop referring to it as a "her"; I sound like I was selling a human._

A door creaked open.

"What the hell is going on?" Killer asked.

Kidd jabbed a thumb at him. "He made us a figurehead. It's the skull of a sea monster."

"Mm hm," the masked man hummed, walking on to the deck, only to stop when he saw the sculpture of the woman placed in the middle. "And what is this suppose to be?"

"Your mother," the redhead answered, and pointed at the shipwright again, who stopped his hammering and leaped down from his work place.

The captain and the shipwright were still as statues as a wave of sudden coldness engulfed the entire deck, both staring at the masked man, waiting for his reaction.

A second later, the sculpture went shooting up into the sky, vanishing as a twinkling star.

"My mother," said Killer calmly as he set his foot down, though the glacial temperature only intensified. "Is a thousand times more beautiful than that piece of shit."

And he walked right back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

"See? He doesn't like it either."

"That's because you told him that it's his mother," Hiroki argued.


	21. Glorious Meridiano

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _poisonliz, doriansburial, Msaju17, allycat18, The Fluffy One,_ and _Brass Gear Trollop_ for reviewing! And yay, we're moving on! This arc features a very special guest supernova who we all know, and possibly love, so enjoy the new presence! This chapter also contained some Inter Arc materials that I just couldn't fit into the last chapter (because I completely forgot, sorry), but it's transitioning into the action part. Overall, the arc is pretty lighthearted and humorous in mood, so laugh while you can. Enjoy!

Fun Fact- SINISTER, SINISTRA, SINISTRUM in Latin means "left", DEXTER, DEXTRA, DEXTRUM means "right." So, this is is why there was this old superstition that there is something wrong with left-handed people... That's not the point here, however.

* * *

Kidd swore to himself as the oil popped from the pan and hit a cheek. This wasn't the first time that he was mad while cooking- in fact, there hadn't been a time when he _wasn't_ ticked to boot while preparing meals, and for good reasons too. First of all, he hated cooking, even though he'd done it for his own good since his earliest memory just because he knew that he wasn't going to get any food from his parents. At home, it'd been very hard to find any spared leftovers and he was only able to get some bites when both of his parents were out of the house. Then it had been cooking by campfire in the forest when he'd left home. Starting a fire was a pain in the neck every single time. He vividly remembered when he'd first ran away from home; he went hungry for over four days because he just couldn't figure out how to maintain a long lasting flame to cook.

But now- he clenched his fists with frustration- now that he became the captain of a pirate crew- the _captain_- why was it still his job to make the shit?

The answer was simple- those two silver-spoon-fed, rich sons of no-good bastards absolutely could not make anything edible to save their lives!

_Next time, I'm recruiting a cook!_ Kidd thought with determination as he scrambled the damned eggs in the pan and took the popped breads from the toaster.

And his bones still ached like a bitch.

* * *

"We're docking soon?"

"In a couple of hours," Killer answered looking towards the seemingly endless ocean. "Though it might be quicker, since the wind is blowing in our favor today." Kidd, too, looked ahead, teeth still sunk into the sandwich in his hand. The masked man glanced at his concentrating face in puzzlement. "What is it?"

A finger point directly in the direction of their destination. "It's over there?"

"Yes," Killer said, slightly impressed that the idiot would know. "Meridiano, South Blue's closest island to Grand Line."

Kidd's eyebrows furrowed as he chewed his food. "It's normal right? No bounty-hunting mafia families?" As he was asking this, he shot a look at their coming shipwright, who stopped by the rail as well.

"No," Hiroki answered in Killer's place, smiling. "Just a very big marine base with a captain and a very active trading market. No mafia families there as far as I can recollect. We're safe on that one."

"Good," the captain grunted, biting into the sandwich again with a dark scowl. "If I have to deal with your lot again, I don't know what I'm going to do to that miserable island."

"Now now," the former yakuza reasoned. "Even if there is one, we wouldn't be the same family..."

"Hmph," huffed Kidd, not convinced, and turning away from the subject he asked, "Are the other Blues like this too?"

Killer nodded. "Meridiano in South Blue, Bailaston in West Blue, Sinistra and Dextra, the two sister islands in North Blue, and Loguetown in East Blue. Loguetown, also known as the Island of Beginning and End- Gol D. Roger came from and was executed there."

"Really?" The redhead chuckled and smirked. "Isn't East Blue the weakest sea out of all four Blues? How ironic! The Pirate King came from East Blue, but it hardly as plagued with pirates unlike the others when logically, it should be the strongest. The way the world works is funny!"

"Hmph," Killer sneered beneath his mask. "The World Government considers it their peace symbol. That, I find funny."

"Then? What's after here?"

"I don't know anything beyond this," the Massacre Man admitted. "Few survivors of the Pirate's Graveyard came back sharing their stories, and whenever they do, all that happened to those tales was that people spun up new fear-driven rumors so we can't tell truths from legends. What I know is very limited, considering that we don't get news from Grand Line unless it's a big, worldly-concerning one. Unless it had something to do with a new Shichibukai or the Yonkou, I doubt they're interesting in publishing anything about climates or minor affairs of the islands."

Kidd frowned, eyes narrowing at the water in the distance. "What about you, Hiroki? That father of yours sailed Grand Line once upon a time, isn't that right?"

Killer stood up straight and focused on the third in the group. "He did?" he perked with interest. "Did he say anything?"

"Hai, he did," their shipwright responded. "In fact, I think he used to rant to me about it all the time when I was young. But... What I do remember from those rants...?" His face fell with concentration. "Let's see... I remember him saying something about the time duration on each island being different, and that there are islands that had advanced beyond our wildest imagination while other islands are still stuck during stone-age time, or even pre-historic time. Like time, the climates are all different- the islands are divided into four seasons, and those season islands divide into four more, making a total of sixteen existing seasons on Grand Line. The weather is unpredictable when you're not near an islands with a stabilized climate pattern."

He looked at Killer.

"Since you're the acting navigator, Killer-san, I have to warn you that logic doesn't work. One second of sunny sky can easily turn into a hurricane, and the four directions do not exist on that sea. Which brings me to the next most vital item that we must have- a Log Pose. On Grand Line, a regular compass will only spin wildly out of control, so the purpose of the Log Pose is to adapt to the magnetic field of a certain island, then in turn pointing directly to the next island; it's the only way to travel by on that sea."

The masked man nodded. "Got it."

"But, I still don't know how we're going to enter it," Kidd pointed out. "Since Grand Line is that bad, it's not like a sea we can go in and out freely of."

"Ah, that too," Hiroki said. "There is a chance that we might die before even going into Grand Line."

The other two frowned. "Why?"

"I don't know if this is the only way but... In order to get into Grand Line, we have to go up Reverse Mountain, one of the two places in the world where Red Line and Grand Line intersect. It's a mountain where water defies the law of gravity and flows upwards. The current is pretty fast, so if we're not careful, our ship will crash on the way up. There is also a great chance that we might not make onto the fall that leads into Grand Line, since there are five of them, four coming from the four Blues. In that case, we're bound to die going against one of those currents."

Kidd stood with a look of disbelief. "...That's impossible! How can waves flow upwards?"

"That's Grand Line, expect the impossible," Hiroki said back,as if Grand Line being Grand Line was all the excuse needed. On the other hand, he supposed it was. "Then, there are the two Calm Belts- seas where no wind nor wave move, which doesn't seem like much danger, but the world's largest Sea Kings dwell there, making Grand Line nearly impermeable by ships... I don't remember anymore details. Maybe they'll come to me later. Papa only made it half way into the 'Old World' Grand Line, though. He never touched New World."

"What stopped him?" asked Killer.

"He pissed off Whitebeard," Kidd answered with a mischievous grin. "That's why he's scared shitless of Grand Line."

"Papa told you about that?"

"No, not the story," the captain said, dusting bread crumbs from his hands. "Speaking of the story, what happened exactly?"

Hiroki scratched his head. "He only told it to me once. I think it has something to do with one of Whitebeard's sons, a nurse, a bird and a cask of rum... Somehow he got involved. Long story... But, I doubt that Whitebeard will remember him after twenty years..."

* * *

"_Oh, Merrridiano, Merrrrrridiano  
My love goes north from south,_" someone sang, not just off key, but off key to the point where the melody sounded like a cat dying.  
_  
"A beaoooty of a city, thrrriving with prosperity  
Brings the loveliest of tune from my mouth._

"_Oh, Merrrridiano, Merrrrrrridiano  
What splendid strrreet paved  
As the sea lapped the land, Beach of white sandy sand  
Did-"_

"Captain Fork!" A voice barked, snapping the singer out of his fantasy land. Fork's mustache twitched at the call, and with his arms dropped to his side, he bolted for his desk, snatched his pen and began- though too late- pretending to work, his face beet red. "Oi, Captain," the slightly freaked soldier asked, sweat dripping from his forehead. "What the hell was that suppose to be?"

Captain Spoon Fork was not a shy man; you could not become a marine captain by being timid. However, that didn't mean that he was much of a public performer, though he did quite fancy singing and dancing to himself in the privacy of his personal office. It was the fault of his underlings to not understand the concept of knocking before entering.

"But I did knock," protested the soldier who'd interrupted. "For three full minutes."

Fork slammed a hand down on his desk and pointed. "Impossible! I did not hear you!"

"That's because you were singing..."

The marine captain folded his arms together, frowning at the soldier, who stared straight ahead with a weary look on his face as Fork hummed disapprovingly. It always took some times for him to get down to business, men of Meridiano's marine base had learned. "Then," the captain finally said after five minutes. "Do you like my new song?"

A vein popped on the soldier's head. "NO, I DON'T!" he barked with budging, glaring eyes. "CAPTAIN, WE'RE HAVING AN EMERGENCY HERE!"

"You don't like it?" Fork sighed with disappointment, ignoring the part about an emergency. "But I spent a whole day writing out the notes and lyrics- it was suppose to be for my kawaii nephew's seventh birthday present. Little Jeremy is slowly becoming a man, I say! Slowly but surely!" He nodded proudly. "As his favorite uncle-" Disregarding the fact that Jeremy only had one uncle. "-I shall compose to him the most beautiful song, I call it 'The Pride From the Southern Island'!" He twirled twice, holding an invisible dancing partner. "Meridiano, my friend, where all joy and beauty reside-"

"CAN YOU BE SERIOUS FOR ONCE, CAPTAIN?" the underling screamed with desperation. Then going into his role as an inferior, he saluted. "We have an emergency on Elm Street; an unknown female pirates has raided three restaurants, refused to pay, and turned all the local forces and restaurant employees into old man and babies!"

Fork listened attentively with a grave look on his face. "That's a problem..."

"Yes sir! Please give us instructions!"

"...However, Jeremy's birthday is two days from now. Here! I hereby order you to find me the finest musician on Meridiano, for surely there must be somebody-"

"Captain!" the soldier cried. He was about to go on with the usual routine of using logical reprimanding towards the captain when he decided to go with the game. "She's ruining the beauty of our beloved city with the hideousness of her pirating crimes and her existence! If we let this continue, you'll have nothing left to sing about!"

Eyes widened with realization, Fork slammed a fist onto a palm with new enthusiasm. "What are you waiting for? WE MUST CLEAN THE CITY UP OF PIRATE FILTHS!

"_Oh, Merrridiano, Merrrrrridiano  
My love goes north from south,"_ he began to sing once more, gliding out of the office.

"_A beaoooty of a city, thrrriving with prosperity  
Brings the loveliest of tune from my mouth~!_ Mm-hm, Not bad, not bad at all! _Laladi di lalada, laladi di lalada~!_"

* * *

"Heh, I see it," Kidd grinned, staring at the distant island. "It doesn't look as urban as Brecciame- there were tons of skyscrapers on your island, Shipwreck."

_'Shipwreck...'?_ Hiroki echoed, sweat-dropping. _Was that on purpose? I hope so. I'd doubt my pledge of loyalty if my captain ended up stupid enough to not know the difference between a shipwreck and a shipwright._ "Of course, the World Government has more control over Meridiano than they did my home island. They don't like all the big capitalistic city businesses very much, and prefer to keep things small-scaled for easier dominance."

"Either ways," Kidd cracked his knuckles. "I don't plan to stay there for a week and a half. I want us on the ship heading for Grand Line before the day's over!"

"Please wait a second," the shipwright pleaded.

"What?"

The redhead stared at a pointing forefinger, which directed his vision above. He followed the invisible line extended from the point and met with the fluttering flag above the crow's nest of the ship- an all black flag.

He scowled. "The only person that'd take apart someone else's ship is you!"

"Even so," Hiroki defended. "We _are_ a pirate crew. We need a proper flag. Since you're the captain, Kidd-sama, it's your obligation to draw it."

Five minutes later...

"There, done!"

He stared at the atrocity that was a white circle and two black dots within the painted circle on the black cloth on the floor. "...What is this suppose to be?"

"Our Jolly Roger," Kidd answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_This is a skull?_

Seeing that his shipwright was displeased, Kidd picked up the abandoned brush on the floor and proceeded editing their flag. The sockets were a little too small, he had to admit. He dipped the brush into black paint and made them bigger, stepped back, and observed the construction again. Something was missing.

Of course! How could he forget? A proper skull needed teeth! So he drew teeth, or rather, in Hiroki's point of view, a black chord within the circle followed by tiny line segments lining the chord.

"Happy?" Kidd drawled, threw the brush down and walked away to see the closing island.

Killer walked by.

"I've made a grave mistake, haven't I, Killer-san?" Hiroki asked.

The masked man stared down at the symbol of their crew. "Yes, you have."

* * *

Ten minutes later, they docked.

Kidd looked to his left and right with distrust, then looked into Killer's mask. "Oi, why are there ships all around us? Why aren't we docked in a safer spot like we did before? Isn't that a marine vessel just ten ships down to our right?"

"An island is a lot less dangerous to prates with just a marine base than a group of bounty-hunters out for blood," was the reply. "And since there are numerous of other pirates as well, we might not even be targeted. Unless you're stupid like last time and draw attention to us, that is."

"Che," the captain grunted, and leaped off _Maria_.

"Same as last time," Killer, who'd landed beside him, said, and handed him a bundle of money and a list. "Get those things. If you got any money left, get what you want, come back to the ship before dusk , and we'll set sail."

"I know," he grumbled and looked upwards at their shipwright who was adjusting the last of their flags into position. "Hey, you're not coming with us?"

"No," Hiroki said back, tightening the rope one last time. "I'm in the middle of installing the cannon system, and this is a good time to do it. Besides, I've already gone here for vacation plenty of times before. Nothing I haven't seen. You go enjoy yourselves."

Kidd shrugged. "Whatever suits you."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time on Elm Street, disastrous explosions ensued one after another as Captain Fork punched down another wall, just to catch a peek of pink hair disappearing. Inside the room that he'd just created another entrance of, a naked young woman in a bathtub shrieked "pervert!" with absolute fright as a blur of pink zoomed passed her, followed by a man in marine coat shouting at the top of his lung. Needless to say, citizens of Meridiano were not going to be pleased once this persecution was over.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" Fork screamed fruitlessly, holding a pair of Seastone cuffs in front of him, running at top speed behind the female pirate captain with bright pink hair who was turning marines into babies and old men left and right all the while chomping down a folded pizza pie she held in her hands.

Jewelry Bonney was pissed to say the least. Firstly, the people on this island just could not comprehend the fact that pirates never pays for their food. She'd never had to pay for her shit before, so why should she start now? Secondly, there had to be at least five squad of marines hot on her and her crew's tail, not to mention that the stupid captain was involved in this too. Thirdly, she'd lost her idiot Uncle Bernard, whom she'd made promising her that he wouldn't go missing again!

_That son of a bitch!_ she swore in her mind, not caring that the bitch she was talking about was her own grandma, and she'd loved her grandma, who used to make the most delicious blueberry pies and pepperoni pizzas before the old hag pushed up daisies. _If I ever find him, I'm gonna turn him into an old man and break his spine! Then we'll see how he likes disobeying me!_

She kicked a small dog that got in the way and sped around a corner, dodged into an alleyway, and proceeded climbing the wall as fast as she could.

Back to Captain Fork, the man was in a frantic.

He screeched to a stop, breathing heavily from all the running. The enemy had suddenly vanished from sight.

"Damn it," he groaned with sorrow. "I'm not made for this anymore... Why, I remember the good o' days when I was a young lad, strong and able." Dramatic tears rolled down his cheeks like waterfall. "But now, now my youth had left me! I CAN'T EVEN HUNT DOWN ONE MEASLE PIRATE WHO IS A _GIRL_! OH JEREMY, IT MUST BE GOOD TO BE YO-"

"Captain Fork!"

He instantly blinked out of his act and looked at the running soldier, who was holding in his arms two crying babies draped in marine uniforms. Behind said soldier was an croaking elder in uniform as well, using a rifle as a cane.

"Captain Fork!" another voice called again, and Fork realized that the soldier wasn't the only one. From every direction, his men began to gather around him, some helping old men clutching rifles, other had arms full of infants, and still other with five or six children tagging behind them, bawling at the top of their lungs.

"Our casualties are great," the closest one reported. "We've captured three of the pirates, but it seems like the main ones had escaped. Also, the people on Elm Street are filing complaints regarding the property damages, and those paperworks will need to be attended to as well."

Fork sighed. Those payments would be coming out of his paycheck, wouldn't they? Today was not his day. "We'll stop the chase for now. Gather up our forces in the mean time, and the people could wait till tomorrow."

"Yes sir!" the marine saluted.

He started to make his way for their base, dejected. While thinking about just how irritating and time-consuming pirates were, he spot the second nuisance of the day; a teenager walking in broad daylight dressed in the fashion and manner of a delinquent. At this, he narrowed his eyes and veins began to form on his neck and forehead. _Not in my city, you don't, young man!_ "You!" he shouted. "Yes, you there! Come over here right now! I've got a bone to pick with you, little hooligan!"

A shadow fell over the eyes of one Eustass Kidd at the command, and his dark red lips twitched.

Killer had told him not to get into trouble, and by what happened last time he messed with that, attracting trouble was the last of his priority.

But the man in marine coat persisted, and when he saw that Kidd wasn't moving, he stomped over to the pirate with a very angry look on his face.

_If he wants a fight, I'll give him one,_ Kidd thought as he looked at the man, then with puzzlement at the crowd of babies and old people in marine uniforms behind him, and wondered just what the hell was going on. _However, what's with that expression? And what's with this? Is this some sort of a parade? Doesn't look like one._ "What do you want?" he snapped at the marine, hands ready in his pockets to activate his Devil Fruit power.

"Oi, Captain Fork!" a normal-looking soldier shouted behind the marine captain. "He-"

"Shut your trap, insolent youngster!" Captain Fork barked. "You kids these days have zero respect for old coots like me! How rude and uncivilized! Why, back in my days, we say 'thank you' and 'pardon me' when we talk to senior citizens! What happened to that, huh?"

"But he's-"

"I said 'shaddup'!" Fork barked once more, and turned his enraged face towards Kidd, who watched this whole ordeal with an indifference expression. "You! What is your name?"

"None of your business," the redhead growled back. It seemed like this marine didn't recognize him. That was good.

Fire ignited behind Fork, flame danced in his eyes. "I'll have you know that it is my business, since I'm the guardian of this city. I demand you to go home and change at once! What's a young man like you doing with red lipsticks? Those goggles look preposterous! And take that scowl off your face right now, and start looking like a proper gentleman! You, as an adolescence reaching manhood, has the responsibility of setting a good example for the coming generation! What kind of an example is this?"

The marine soldiers behind him must be a hell a lot more intelligent, judging by the look of panic on their faces. "Captain Fork, we must-"

"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" their captain roared at them. "NO RESPECT, NO RESPECT AT ALL!"

Kidd smirked. "Screw off, old geezer," he said, and walked away.

"You go home this instant, child!" Fork barked after him. "And don't think that I can't do anything about this! I have the power to find your parents, and when I do, I'll make sure that they know about this and have you grounded for life!" By the time he finished the last word, Kidd had already disappeared from sight.

"Captain Fork!" the same soldiers cried.

"WHAT?" he shouted back.

"That kid is a pirate!"

"...Eh...NO WAY!" He glanced at the place where Kidd stood, then back. "I didn't recognize him at all!"

"He's Eustass 'Captain' Kidd, and his bounty poster came out just two weeks ago. He's worth thirty-five million beri!" one answered. "Weren't you reviewing the stack of bounty heads at all?"

Fork looked taken aback. "Well... I was too busy thinking up a present for Jeremy..." he muttered.

"CAPTAIN FORK, YOU IDIOT!"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We tried to, but you're the one who told us to shut up!"

He grimaced, unable to argue against that. "Well..." he said again, and clenched his fists. "Here's what we're gonna do! We've already lost one pirate today, so I refuse to lose another! Your group, take the elders to the nearest retirement home! Your group, gather all the babies and kids at the nearest daycare center! The rest of you able to fight follow me! I'm gonna take this 'Captain' Kidd down! I will not fail on my title as the top officer of Meridiano! Sing with me, men:

"_Oh, Merrridiano, Merrrrrridiano_  
_My love goes north from south-"_

"PLEASE BE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS!"


	22. Sporking

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _allycat18, Msaju17, yumeniai, Kuvatin,_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing! I'm so glad you guys like Fork, I was worry there for a moment, and thought that maybe he'd be too out of place. But, expect more weirdness coming up! This is the world of One Piece after all! :D

* * *

"Finally, I lost those stupid marines," Bonney muttered to herself as she slumped down onto a chair in the middle of a kitchen, and scowled at the bunch of sniveling old men and women huddling in the corner of the room. "You know the drill! Don't you dare make a sound or I'll turn you so old that all I have to do is kick you to kill you!"

The elders whimpered and she kicked the dining table apart. "I'm hungry!" she declared, got up and marched towards the doomed fridge. Yanking the door open, she took out the leftover fried chicken the family had for dinner last night and began stuffing the meat into her mouth, bones and all. The frightened people watched her as she monstrously consumed every single piece of edible thing in the house, eventually letting out a loud burp three minutes later, though her waistline remained small and her stomach no larger.

"Geez, there's nothing to eat here," the female pirate complained, disregarding the fact that she just ate over three restaurants worth of food not an hour ago. "Oi! Get me food! I want pizza! Pizza, ya hear me? Get them now!"

For seconds, all was quiet.

"Can't you old hags and coots move?" she snarled, hands raised dangerously. "Move, I say! Get me more food! NOW! I WANT FOOD!"

Still no response.

Bonney was more than ticked right then, and she twitched her fingers, preparing to age them even more when a loud crash was heard from upstairs, and then the thundering of footsteps racing down the stairway until five of the men in her crew appeared- minus Uncle Bernard, like always.

"Bo- Bonney-sama," one of them began. "We heard you screaming from another house and-"

She threw the chair at him. "SHUT UP!" she screamed. "Where's the food? Don't tell me that you haven't brought any with you!"

"Well," the second man said, stepping forward with his arms full of bread. "I managed to snatch some off-"

"GIMME THAT!" Bonney ripped them from him and stuffed the bread loaves into her mouth like a starving wolverine. It took her five seconds to finish the amount of food that could've fed ten people. Dusting the crumbs off her shirt and giving her victims one last look of disgust, she turned to her crew and issued the command.

"When we get out of this house, I want you all to start raiding restaurants and supermarkets and head for the ship when you're done. Anyone who doesn't bring me at least one hundred kilograms of food will die instantly! That goes to the idiots who's too stupid to make it here too! Ya hear me, boys?"

"AY AY, SENCHO!" they chorused back.

"Good," she sneered, and headed for the front door.

Bonney opened it in time for an explosion to greet her ears and eyes. The smoke cleared, and standing in the middle of the street were marines all over the place, that stupid captain who'd chased her before, and a fierce red-haired boy who looked about her age with a giant, weapon-formed left arm.

"...What the hell?"

* * *

Kidd wasn't stupid; he knew that that "Captain Fork"'s idiocy would not last long. Somebody was bound to inform the moron the fact that he was indeed a pirate, and not just some juvenile delinquent wandering on the streets out to make the city look bad. By the time Fork had caught on, he was already running through the streets, completely forgot about the list that Killer had handed to him earlier.

_Damn, they're persistent,_ he thought as he turned a corner and ran into a bake-sale stand, sending sweet goods flying all over his chasers, who were not far behind him.

_Should I find Killer?_ He asked himself.

_Like hell! I do what I want! But, if I screw up like last time, I'd only get us stuck here, and I don't plan on staying a minute longer than we have to._

_It's because I couldn't control my Devil Fruit power before, anyway. _He halted to a stop and turned around to face the marines, extending out a electrified hand, calling to all metal sources around him. _This time, it'd be different!_ "_Repel!"_

The blow blasted apart the group of enemies, disassembling their formation. Kidd stood, grinning slyly as they scrambled around trying to pick themselves up. It was all fun and good until their leader stepped out with flared nostrils and wrinkled forehead from looking so enraged. "Now, the real fun begins," the pirate announced with a chuckle. "What are you going to do now, old geezer? Maybe you should be teaching nursery rhymes to children instead of being here fighting pirates!"

"Shut up!" Fork barked. "That was only because I didn't suspect you to be a scum of the sea! But now that I know, prepare to feel my wrath!"

Kidd snorted haughtily.

"I will not let the beauty of Meridiano to be run over by pirate filth! Ever since my first day here, I've kept good watch over the people and stopped numerous sea dogs just like you," Fork boasted, nodding to himself. "This has been my post for over fifteen years!" He clenched his fist and posed dramatically. Imaginary flowers bloomed around him. "I, Captain Spoon Fork of Meridiano, will not let this madness continue! NO SIREE!"

"Lame," came the nonchalant review.

Fork's face fell and the flowers died. "Was... Was it really?" he asked in a smaller voice. "...I... I thought it was pretty impressive..."

Kidd stared at him. _Is this man serious?_

"Hmph," he frowned and reactivated his ability. "I don't have time to play with the likes of you, so I'll make it quick."

Metallic objects wrenched themselves out of hands of holders, and began fitting around his left arm. His grin deepened at the shocked faces he saw, especially at the ridiculous face of that stupid marine captain, who had snot coming out of his nose.

"You- You," he sputtered. "That- You- That- YOU'RE A DEVIL FRUIT USER TOO?" Fork grasped his head and pulled his hair. Two Devil Fruit users in one day? That was too much! He'd _never_ had two pirates with Devil Fruits in a day before! "DAMN IT!" he cried with frustration, then took a deep breath to calm himself down before turning to Kidd, who, by now, had completed his new arm. "Don't think that I don't know how to handle freaks like you! 'Cause I do!" He dug his pocket for the Seastone cuffs that he never got to use on Bonney, and held it in front of him. "HERE," he screamed comically. "NOW FEAR ME! MUHAHAHA!"

Kidd gave him a dirty look, and swung down his arm, breaking apart the marines' formation once more.

"I said,'I don't have time to play with you!' So don't mess with me!" he said, gathering the arm back and prepared to attack again, this time at Fork, who still stood his ground in an eccentric pose, holding the cuffs out like he was repelling evil spirits.

"Men!" Fork commanded, pointing a dramatic finger. "Do not falter!"

"YES SIR!"

Kidd hissed as they all came at him at once, stumbling along the way. He released some swords from his collection and positioned them as a circle around him to shoot. They halt to a stop at the sight of sharp blades levitating in midair with the end pointing at them.

"N- No, we're gonna di-WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

And it was his turn to be surprise at the marine shrunk and disappeared in his clothes. His comrades jumped, terrified and backed away, only to have themselves meeting the same fate seconds later. Kidd spun around at a crackling laughter of a woman, and found himself staring at a pink-haired girl in green hat, holding her stomach while rolling on the ground. He narrowed his eyes.

_Who the hell is she?_

The girl got up and dusted her behind clean. "That was pretty interesting, INTERESTING!" She grinned evilly, walking up to them. "Who would've thought that I might meet another Devil Fruit user before heading into Grand Line?"

Fork gaped at her. "YOU'RE THAT BRAT WHO GOT AWAY EARLIER!"

"My name is Jewelry Bonney, the captain of the Bonney pirates," she said to Kidd, ignoring the marine captain, as her men filtered out from the house behind her.

"Eustass Kidd," Kidd introduced himself. "Don't mess with my fight."

Her pompous expression twitched and her hands balled. "Oi, what's with your attitude, mister? Tryin' to pick a fight with me or something? I'll kick your ass!"

"Shut up!" he ordered, flexing his metal arm. "Get out of my way before I make you regret it!"

Now she definitely looked angry. "So you wanna fight? Ha! Let's see how well you can fare against me as a-"

BOOM!

Kidd immediately averted his attention away from Bonney to the marine captain, who'd initiated the attack when both of the pirates were distracted. He stared with irritated eyes at the thing the marine was spinning, and the metal arm rustled with tension. The weapon had broken the ground, lining it with deep streaks and a large oval-shaped crater that'd reached Kidd's feet. The pink-haired bitch had crashed into the wall of a nearby house. He wasn't sure if she was dead or not.

Probably not, but that was hardly his concern.

The spinning stopped, and he redhead looked at the "mysterious" weapon with disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" he muttered under his breath.

The remaining marine soldiers cheered. "Captain is on his game!"

"He's serious now!"

"GO CAPTAIN FORK!" they chorused happily.

Kidd gritted his teeth.

_...A spork?...Is this some kind of a joke? I'm getting embarrassed just fighting this imbecile!_

Fork, however, paid no heed to his own absurdity, and continued to hold the over-sized eating utensil over his head with pride. "THIS," he boomed with a teeth showing smile. "Is what I'm renounced for! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A SPORK! IT HAS POWERFUL IMPACT OF A _SPOON_, THE SHARPNESS AND THE STABBING ABILITY OF A _FORK_, plus it's also great for eating meatballs and spaghetti in great quantity. THIS IS THE ONE THING THAT MADE ME THE CHAMPION OF OUR ANNUAL EATING CONTEST LAST YEAR!"

_I've wasted enough time here!_

Not commenting, he swung his arm, sending it crashing straight into the marine, who swung his spork as well, meeting the attack. The collision was ear-shattering. Kidd's eyes widened as his "hand" broke apart, and the weapons flew in all different directions.

Fork grinned. "I told you," he said, beaming. "Don't underestimate the power of a spork! Also, it is equipped with Seastones at the tips, perfect for you Devil Fruit users!"

Annoyance boiled Kidd's blood. "I refuse to lose to someone who wields, is name after, and has the IQ of inanimate dining appliances!" He quickly gathered up the lost weapons for the third time that day. "_Repel_!" The giant arm wore off his own and flew towards the enemy, only to be stopped three feet away from the target. Everything crashed onto the ground.

"Oi... Child..." Fork started, as if he was speaking to an idiot. "You do understand what I mean when I said that this spork is equipped with Seastones, don't you?"

"Shut up!" Kidd flushed red. "You have no right to talk to me in that tone!"

"Both of you are morons, inside and out!"

He glanced at an approaching, sneering Bonney. _Che, so she lives. Annoying little bitch._

"Well, Eustass," the annoying little bitch began, joining their duo. "I think we both can agree that we don't want to be here anymore than we need to. I'm starving, but I'm gonna have this guy on my tail if you die."

Kidd growled at the last statement. "Who is going to die?" he asked in a dark voice.

"So how about me form a temporary truce and beat him now?" she proposed, licking her thumb of the flavor of baked bread remaining there, her stomach growling with hunger. "I'll never have peace getting my meals if he's around. You take care of that annoying spork of his, and I'll turn him into an old man and give us some time. How's that?"

It would have sounded like a good plan to anybody else, but his ego refused to let him think that way. "Are you ordering me around?" he demanded, ready to kill. "I'll take _you_ out first!"

"Oi! That was a _request_!" she snapped. "Don't think that I'll work with anyone! You two are in the way of my food! Why else do you think that I'm willing to work with a baka like you, _baaaka_!"

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead "So you want to die, huh?

She looked equally ticked. "I might as well as kill _you_ first, pig-head! You're so much worse than he is!"

Kidd did not bother with a rebuttal, and instead, hurled the entire arm towards Bonney. She jumped back at the sudden attack, landing on her feet safely, scowling and lifting her hands to activate her own attack-

And the spork came crashing down on her once again.

"Damn it!" she snarled, maddened, her power stopped half-way. "Get your fucking spork outta my fight already, old geezer! If it wasn't for the Seastones on that damn thing, I'd have aged you to your fucking grave already! Oi, Eustass, knocking that damn thing outta his fucking hand like I told you to!"

"Don't order my around!"

"MEN!" the unexpected shout stopped both pirates in their track, and they looked around, seeing marines popping up out of everywhere, all holding... cuffs. Bonney's expression turned to horror, while Kidd just looked irritated. _What the hell is this?_ "GET 'EM!"

The female pirate flew into rage. "FUCK THIS SHIT! YOU DUMBASS MARINES, GET OUTTA MY WAY!" She kicked to nearest man and knocked all teeth out of another.

While she was already at the height of her fury, Kidd's fury was slowly inclining as one after another of his attack fell as he approached the soldiers._ Those must be Seastones cuffs! They're canceling out my Devil Fruit power!_

Meanwhile, in the background, Fork was singing his Meridiano anthem cheerily, dancing, as his subordinates unsuccessfully trying to put the criminals in cuffs, not that said criminals were having much of a win either, being so overpowered by the number of enemies that had swarmed on them.

In the mist of all the confusion, it wasn't until somebody screamed that Kidd even realized a bloody head flying through the air. Fork's singing stopped and everybody froze.

"Wh- What is it now?" a marine cried, frightened to boot.

_Shit,_ Kidd grimaced, spotting a way too familiar mask. _Killer..._

"Do you ever listen?" his first mate- who _still_ hadn't acknowledged him- reprimanded, advancing closer and closer calmly as the marines backed off to make a path, yelping at the sight of his bloody scythe. "You haven't bought a single thing either, have you?"

"Who the hell are you?" Bonney demanded, this man's covered face and the chilling aura that surrounded him unnerved her. To her left and right, some marines had fainted, but nobody paid attention. "Don't butt into other people's business like this!"

"His business is my business," Killer merely said, and to Kidd, "Come on, moron, we're sailing."

The captain was about to answer, had he not seen the giant spork heading Killer's way. "Oi-"

Killer stopped the utensil-weapon dead in its track with a lift of his clean scythe.

"Huh?" Fork's eyes popped in amazement. The expression lasted three seconds before Killer sent him zooming across the street into a house with a kick. The rest of the marines watched the display with dropped jaws.

"Who..." Bonney breathed, sweats lining her forehead.

Kidd grinned smugly. "He's my first mate."

He did not expect hand to grab his ear, nor did he expect said grasp to slam his head onto the concrete street.

"Let's go," Killer growled at his shivering form on the street.

_Scary..._Bonney gulped as the masked man walked past her, receiving the full feeling of the glacial air. She turned her head and stared at his back. _He's only the first mate? And that idiot is the captain? _She looked as a pissed off Kidd ran towards the man. _Meh, makes no sense at all to me._

The rubbish that used to be a house before a human cannonball known as Captain Fork got blasted into it began to rustle and move.

_I should leave as well. Uncle Bernard better be waiting by the ship!_

* * *

"That wasn't necessary!" Kidd snarled as blood trickled down his forehead to the sides of his nose and down his cheek. "What do you think I'm made off, tossing me around like that! Who do you think I am, anyway? I'm your captain, that's who! You can't do that to your own captain!"

"Scream one more time and I'll break your ribcage,_ brat__,_" Killer threatened. "I don't take immature shitheads as my captain."

And by that tone of voice, Kidd was forced to bite back every single insult and live with it. "I haven't done any buying!" he said, hands kept dabbing at the bleeding bump on his forehead.

"Forget it, I already know you won't, so I did your part too," the masked man said. "Stop touching it! You'll get germs in your blood. Just hold it until we get back to the ship and I'll get some antibiotic and bandage."

"Whose fault is this?" Kidd snapped, still touching. "Yours!"

"Hmph," Killer said as they turned a corner, with Kidd still glaring at the blood in his hand. The redhead, so occupied with his injury, turned the opposite direction. "Oi, where do you think you're going?"

Kidd looked up. "To the ship, where else?"

"Our ship's in that direction," he said, pointing. "We docked on the southern deck of the island. You're heading north."

The redhead furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, I remembered it being that way!"

"You _think._" And Killer grabbed him by the back collar.

"Hey! Let me go!"

They arrived at the ship some times later.

"What happened?" Hiroki questioned as his captain stormed by him, running towards the living quarter, only to stop by the galley with a look of pure anger, looking right to left as if searching for something. "He's bleeding... From the forehead. Killer-san, really..."

"He deserved it. Just set sail. We're done here."


	23. Up and Down Reverse Mountain

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _yumeniai, allycat18, Seregunda, ChibiFluffy _and _Msaju17_ for reviewing!

My goodness, I'm so embarrassed with myself! *Cries* So I was reading Moby Dick (summer assignment, 'nuff said), and I came across the line: _"-no, I never go as a passenger; nor, though I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a Captain, or a Cook."_ Then rereading it and doing some research, I found out that, indeed, there is no such thing as a "Commandre." Please don't ask where I got that from when, originally, I did remember researching the marine titles and statuses in One Piece. I've done Find and Replace for that word in the previous chapters where I'd used it. Sorry for my incompetence. -_-'

On a brighter note, Hiroki's revenge is this chapter! Hehe, you have no idea just how much I looked forward to writing this.

To _ChibiFluffy_: Yes... I suppose the reason that I created Fork was out of my subconscious longing to see a spork again after three years. Back in my old school, I used them for lunch every single day. They were white, plastic, and came in tiny packets with a single napkin. But then I moved, and nobody in this town uses sporks. :(

EDIT: a big thanks to _Lunatic-With-A-Pen_ for telling me about nautical miles. XD

* * *

Fork's head burst out from underneath the pile of rubbish that was once someone's house. He looked ahead of him and saw a whole crowd of his men digging around him.

"I'm right here!" he screamed to catch their attention, struggling in his confinement. Did he still have his spork? Yes, yes he could feel the handle around his hand! Thank Sengoku!

"Captain Fork!" his men cried with relief. "Are you all right?"

"All right?" he echoed grumpily. "Am I all right? Why, of course I'm all- NO I'M NOT, YOU BIRDBRAINS! I WAS NEARLY BURIED ALIVE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"So- Sorry!" one of the soldier stuttered, scratching his head. The rest of them surrounded him, beginning to dig out the woods and bricks in order to free him. They exchanged weary looks; Captain Fork truly angry? That was a rare sight to see.

Fork sighed. "Listen," he said to the underlings he'd screamed at. "I understand you, youngsters. Why, I used to be a mere marine soldier once upon a time myself, too. Although, that was quite a long time ago. I endured the greatest of pain of being screamed at and ordered around by my superior. What a nuisance they were! I never got a break! It was all 'Bring me my decaff-ed coffee!' or 'I'll blast your head off!' or 'Oi, this is the wrong paperwork!' or 'Get 'em pirates!' and never chasing after those scumbags themselves!" Tears rolled down his cheeks like waterfall as he recalled those distant memories.

"Um..." one of the young man he was speaking to said, blinking.

"SO I SWORE TO MYSELF!" Fork went on, oblivious to all the weird looks he was getting. "That when I became a marine of great status! That I'll never,_ never_ mistreat my precious subordinates like those tyrannic assholes do!" There were sparkles shining around him.

"...Captain Fork-"

"There will be times when I'd lose my cool!" The marine captain paid no heed. "There will be times when I'd act out of my moral ground, out of my promise, out of my dream! There will be times when I'd snap and yell and scream! But you can be assured that never, not once! Are any of those times to be taken into your heart!"

The soldiers looked at each other, and waited for him to finish.

"HEAVEN BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! AND REMEMBER, YOUTH IS THE BEST TREASURE A MAN COULD EVER HAVE!" Fork ended his speech with a bow. "Now, what were you trying to tell me?"

A soldier stepped forward. "Captain, the pirates have escaped to their ships. Please give us orders!"

His eye instantly grew as wide as saucer plates. "Shit! I completely forgot about them! Wh- What should I do...? WHAT SHOULD I DO? ….I know! Everybody, stand attention!"

* * *

"You damn worthless nitwit!" A cowboy boot kicked a man in the face. "You got lost again, didn't you? When I specifically told you to stay at my fucking side at all time! What the fuck are you, Uncle, deaf? Retarded? And hey! Lift the anchors already, the rest of you stupid jackasses! I gave the order to set sail didn't I?"

"So- Sorry, Bonney," Bernard apologized in his low, dull voice, bowing on his knees. "But the marines came and I panicked and-"

"Shut up!" his niece screamed back, stomping her right foot. "If it ain't for the fact that you cook like Grandma, your ass ain't worth half a beri to me, ya hear? How am I suppose to go into Grand Line with such an idiot like you in the crew? You better be praying to Kami-sama, now. 'Cause as soon as I find another cook who's even one degree smarter than your bird-brain, you can bet that I'm throwing you sorry waste of space off this ship!"

"H- Hai..."

Bonney glared at him as their ship began to move. "You fucking disgust me! Get out of my sight! Go make me dinner, useless lard!"

"Ye- Yes," the poor guy obeyed, crawling away from the temperamental female captain, heading for the kitchen.

"Hmph," Bonney muttered to herself, and stormed into the Captain's Quarter, slamming her door behind her. "Again and again, I went easy on him again!" she hissed under her breath. "Damn today, too! That Eustass bastard pisses me off! He's lucky that I never got the chance to de-age him, then he would've seen just how far babies fly when you kick them!" She kicked a bedpost.

The floor suddenly shook beneath her feet.

"Hm?" Bonney's eyes narrowed with irritation as an explosion went off quite close. "What the hell is it this time?"

"BONNEY-SENCHO!" one of her men screamed from the outside. "THE MARINES ARE SENDING SHIPS AFTER US!"

* * *

_BOOM!_

"_Repel!_" Kidd held out his hand, stopping two cannonballs at once, nearly missing a third that almost hit the main mast. The explosive spheres landed in the water around them, creating splashes and waves that tilted their balance, rocking their ship. "Oi! Can't you hurry things up? We're sailing without the sail down and we need to move faster!"

"Please be patient," Hiroki called from the front of the steering wheel inside a tiny room just behind the bow, the front door decorated as a skull in compliment to their figurehead. "I'm activating Auto-Paddling. Since it's the first time operating, it will take a while to warm-up and start. The power is loading in ten, nine, eight-"

"I don't care about that..." the captain growled back, repelling another cannonball. "But we're sailing _sideways! _Can't you turn the ship around?"

_Boom!_ Tiny parts of a bomb exploded harmlessly when Killer's scythes diced them.

"We're not sailing sideways," he corrected Kidd. "Ships cannot sail sideways, we're merely going in a perpendicular direction to the marine ships."

"That's what I mean! We're going sideways-" "-We're _not _going sideways!" "-Why aren't we going away from them?"

"-Four, three-"

_Boom! Boom! BOOM!_ Three cannonballs hit the water.

"We're going around the island-" _BOOM! _"Since Grand Line is that way, obviously," Killer answered.

"-Two, one, zero!" Hiroki announced from the operation room, and Kidd felt the engine of the ship roaring to life beneath his feet. To his side, he heard the splashing sounds of heavy things hitting water, and the wind rustling his hair began to pick up speed. "We're now going at a speed of twenty nautical miles per hour, and increasing. Is that fast enough, Killer-san?"

"Stop at thirty-five," the masked man answered.

"Got it."

A moment later, their shipwright emerged from the room just as a cannonball missed them. Kidd looked down from the rail and saw twenty-something paddles rowing their ship in sync, before repelling the last of the cannonballs away. The marines ships seemed much smaller than before, and were shrinking in size as seconds passed. Attacks had also stopped.

"Guess they gave up?" he muttered.

"Must be. We're out of their boundary," Killer said. "Now, we're heading for the north of the island, then sailing straight until we come to Reverse Mountain."

"And how long would that take?" Kidd asked. They both looked over to Hiroki.

The black-haired man hummed. "One day? Maybe one and half? I can't remember exactly. But Papa did docked at the northern deck, while we have Auto-Paddling. Who knows..."

The captain scoffed. "You're not very helpful."

"Sorry," came the light apology. "By the way, that was a wonderful idea you have, Sencho."

"What idea?"

"A ship that sails sideways."

Kidd smirked and gave his first mate a look. "Hah! He thinks it's a wonderful idea!"

Killer snorted. "He also crawled out of a hole, held us captive inside a self-destructing room, and burned soup."

"..."

* * *

"Here," Killer said as he placed a coin inside the seagull's pouch, and took the roll of newspaper from its claws before watching it fly away. "Hmph, the price for papers these days are soaring like mad. Last time I bought it, it was only five hundred beri. Now they're charging eight hundred."

"Then just don't buy it," Kidd said, rolling his eyes and frowning. Really, what was the point of newspapers anyway? They were just a bundle of paper that picked clean of people's pocket change, full of useless information that no normal person would bother with. At least, that was the impression he'd gotten from it.

His first mate outright ignored him.

Overall, after what had happened in Meridiano, the day was relatively quiet and boring. The most interesting thing that Kidd could find to be occupied with was a fight between two birds over a piece of corn two hours ago, but right now there was nothing to do except lying carefreely on the rear deck, waiting for something exciting to come up. All Killer wanted to do was read and study- _Some pirate he is_- and Hiroki was kept busy with modifications and organizing their supplies, since he claimed to have nothing else to do and the other two didn't want to be bothered with miscellaneous chores themselves. Kidd was half-tempted to turn the damn ship around back to that island and have some more fun.

Footsteps thundered up from underneath just as the masked man was about to head for his room, and both the captain and the first mate snapped their heads at attention.

"Killer-san?" their shipwright began, a frown gracing his face. Kidd raised an eyebrow. Was something wrong? "I can't find the Log Pose. Did you take it?"

"No," came the reply. " I didn't buy one."

The frown grew bigger. "What do you mean by 'I didn't buy one'? Was there none for sale? That's impossible, considering the kind of island Meridiano is."

"Sure, there were some. It was hard to find, but I saw a pawn shop selling three of them at ten million beri each," Killer calmly said.

"Oi," Kidd called out. "Don't we need that compass-thingy just to travel Grand Line? You should've gotten it!"

"Sencho is right, you know," Hiroki agreed, looking slightly trouble. "I understand that ten million beri is a lot for a little compass like a Log Pose, but it's the very essential item of our journey. Without it, we'll be lost. If you didn't have that much with you, you should've just stolen one."

The masked man stood, quite unfazed despite the trouble spoken. "We already have a Log Pose."

More frowning. "We do?"

"Yeah." He jabbed a thumb at Kidd, whose expression immediately changed from confusion to a scowl.

"What? ….Blaming this on me, are you? I thought I told you that I didn't have the time to buy anything!" the redhead protested. "Besides, you probably didn't even write 'Log Pose' on my-"

"No," Killer snapped. "I'm saying that you_ are _our Log Pose, dumbass."

Hiroki turned to stare at his captain for a good minute. "...Really? I didn't think that he can do that..." He blinked.

Kidd gave them both a glare. "Do what?" he growled.

"He should," the masked man responded to their shipwright's astonishment. "Being the idiot he is, how else could he have pointed out where Meridiano was earlier? And did I tell you? He tried to head north when our ship was docked by the southern decks. Everything fits. It's just a matter of him being able to-"

A vein popped on the captain's forehead. _Don't refer to me in third person when I'm right in front of you! _"Oi! Answer my damn question! What can I do?"

"Act as a Log Pose due to your Devil Fruit," said Hiroki, who was scratching his chin. "The ways these powers work are indulging..." he mused. "Almost made me wish that I have a fruit myself."

"If you don't mind being a Hammer for the rest of your life," Killer muttered.

"That doesn't answer my question! What can a Log Pose do that I can do?"

The scratching stopped and he looked at Kidd with a smile- a bigger smile then his normal one, that is. "I suppose we'd have to do a little interrogation, Killer-san. Sencho, did you ever feel the urge that you absolutely have to leave Brecciame during the time I trapped you there?"

The way he worded the question brushed Kidd's nerves, and his eyes twitched with annoyance, halfway between giving the man a snappish comeback, or really answer the question. "...Yes," he finally said through gritted teeth. "Why the fuck do you think that I would suddenly decide to bust a couple of holes in your streets and kick your father's sorry rock-for-ass?"

"See?" Killer said.

Kidd narrowed his eyes as a small spark of rage lit within him. "No, I don't 'see'!" he snapped.

The masked man sighed silently. "Is there one thing in the world that you don't require my explanation? I thought we got the usages of the Log Pose done this morning-"

And he stopped abruptly.

"What is it now?"

The three remained unmoved as quietness overtook the deck until Kidd's ear picked up loud rumbling in the distance. _A storm?_ "Oi... Hiroki, isn't Auto-Paddling off?"

By the look on his face, both could tell that their shipwright had caught on. "Since we're sailing according to the wind with sails, of course. We weren't going this fast a moment ago."

As the last word left his mouth, splatters of rain began falling almost instantly, and dark gray clouds covered the sky above them, Within seconds, the light drizzle turned into one of the most violent storm Kidd had experienced. He jumped as thunder shook and rang, and felt the slight electric power within himself from his Devil Fruit reacting to the lightning. Killer was already running for the main deck, and the other two followed, stopping behind him at the sight in front of them, completely forgotten about everything else.

"Looks like it," Killer said grimly, staring at the monstrous mountain that was the only continent in their world. It towered like the giant of giants. "The Red Line."

Kidd had never felt more insignificant, trying to stabilize his balance on a little tub in the presence of something like that. But as quickly as that amazement came, it went. Hiroki had gone inside the control room and taken hold of the wheel, desperately fighting against the fast current which was sending them closer and closer towards the mountain wall. At this rate- he gripped the rail, hissing- they would crash.

"KIDD," Killer screamed at him over the roaring wind and thunder. "DO YOU SEE A SMALL CRACK WITHIN THE MOUNTAIN?"

"HOW CAN I SEE ANYTHING?" he shouted back, squinting.

No. Wait.

"OI! I SEE IT!" he shouted again at Killer, who was running for the control room as well. " WE'RE GOING TO MISS IT BY A HAIR AND CRASH IF WE KEEP GOING THIS DIRECTION! WE NEED TO GO RIGHT! RIGHT!"

* * *

Inside the control room, Hiroki was working furiously with the switches and buttons as he let Killer take the steering wheel. "We're in slowing mode, though the current is making it really hard, but I hope it would make a difference," he informed. "He said to go right?"

"Right," the masked man agreed.

The shipwright nodded. "Binocular on. Zoom in, times thirty." He took a moment to gaze at the screen. "I didn't think it could be true either, but the water is really moving up a mountain..."

"I guess this marks the beginning of Grand Line for pirates," Killer said. "With a mountain where water defies gravity. How many feet to the right? Set the mode in for me and I'll take care of the rest. You make sure that idiot outside doesn't drown- or we won't be able to recover him even if he isn't a Hammer."

"Got that. Please hit reset when I give the signal."

* * *

"This is..." He heard his captain saying over and over again to himself over the loud storm. "This is insane! I thought you were kidding! How the fuck is this possible?"

This time, Hiroki dared to smirk as they zoomed towards the entrance at impossible speed with the fast current and the even faster wind. He had to admit, Killer-san wasn't half bad a navigator and steersman. They were going dead center for the rising canal. "This is the Red Line," he replied. "And one of the two places were it intersects with Grand Line. Expect impossibilities."

Kidd slowly grinned. "I have no idea to whether be happy or discouraged, if this is the first thing we have to face."

"Then," he said with a smile. "Be both."

The ship began to climb the slope.

"Killer-san! Reset!"

The sensation almost felt like flying to Kidd. He gripped the rail tightly, eyes looking straight ahead of the narrow strait that were leading them up and up. Mist clouded his vision, and the air became humid. If this was up, he could not imagine how it would be like when they head down.

Hiroki's hair flapped around his face. Although seemingly calm, rushes of adrenaline were pumping through his blood stream at the thrilling danger presented. All he could hear were the screeching wind as they headed for the peak. Beyond the exciting, beyond the thrill, a surge of pride swelled up in his heart for the ship which he put so much time and energy building. Granted, it wasn't completed yet- with the cannon system only half done and still some rooms half constructed. But this was surviving while other trashes failed. That, he told himself, was something notable to remember.

Inside the control room, one would be safer, but Killer could care less about his safety when he had once in a life time chance to witness something like this. He ran outside the next instance, almost losing his balance by the strong wind that knocked him off his feet for a single moment. Thankfully, he stabbed his scythe in the rail just in time to catch himself.

They broke through the cloud and burst out bathing in sunlight.

The waves crashed against the peak, sending them in the air, waterless for one perfect moment as water crystallized underneath them, sparkling, then crashing apart. From their highest point, Kidd looked down just in time to see the four channels from the Blues merging together into one, where if they landed on any of those, death would be surefire-

And their ship plunged downward, crashing upon the Grand Line current.

"I'm not much of an appreciator of beauty," their shipwright commented as they slid down. "But that was damn beautiful back there."

The two others smirked in agreement.

A loud low bellow reached Kidd's ear, snapping him out of the daze going down had put him in. _Hm? _The entire mountain suddenly shook.

"What is that?" Killer wondered. "Not an earthquake- that's not possible."

Hiroki frowned. "I wouldn't say impossible, but it doesn't feel like one."

"Oi!" the redhead called. "Up head!"

Even without the notification, the enormous splash that occurred seconds later would've no doubt caught anybody's attention. They turned to see a tail fin disappearing into the waves, and no later, Reverse Mountain shook again. Kidd stared with disbelief.

"Is that a whale?" His eyes widened as it emerged up again, taking note of all the raw scars on its head as it bellowed an ear-shattering bellow and plunged down once more. "They grow to _this_ size?"

"I thought Island Whales were an extincted species," Killer said as the mountain shook. "What is it doing headbutting the Red Line?"

"It sounds like it's in pain," said Hiroki as they slowed down, reaching the bottom.

Kidd scowled. "Meh, who cares, let's get out of its way before it decides to make us its dinner."

"Will do," Hiroki said. "Meanwhile, do resume where you left off, Killer-san. We'll be sailing along the Red Line until Sencho here manages to memorize a magnetic field to reach the next island."

* * *

One night and one long lecture later, Kidd's eyes snapped opened at the break of dawn as the same unsettled feeling he'd experienced back in Brecciame happened again. This time, however, the impact were harder, more noticeable, and he felt himself immediately facing a certain direction and knew that what Killer had told him yesterday was true.

It distracted him so much that it took him a while to notice that something was off: Unlike last night, where the ship was rocking slightly due to waves, right now, it was completely calm.

He exited his room, and stepped outside.

_What the hell? We stopped moving._

The sails drooped the flags unmoved. Around them, no wave crashed against the sides of the ship, and no wind blew. He dug his mind for an explanation and froze when he found it. His shipwright's words came back to him, _"Then, there are the two Calm Belts- seas where no wind nor wave move, which doesn't seem like much danger, but the world's largest Sea Kings dwell there, making Grand Line nearly impermeable by ships..."_

_Shit! We drifted into one of the Calm Belts overnight!_

"OI!" he screamed for his nakamas.

Their doors flew open. "What-"

Kidd thought he saw Hiroki paling several shades in the dim light, and of course, because of the mask, Killer's expression was not available for interception, but the freezing of his movement spoke the same. "Kidd..." the masked man whispered. "Behind you."

He spun around and turned whiter than sheet.

A Sea King resembling the love child of a dolphin and a gorilla the size of that Island Whale stared back at him with big, black, beady eyes.

..._When did that thing get behind me?_

A second later, hundreds more of those monsters of all different variations popped out of the water, as silent as the first.

"Damn it..." he swore under his breath, eying the Sea Kings with dread, his hands tightened into fist as his mind ran round and round. There was no way that they could take on all of them at once. With the dead water and no wind, those monsters would sink them the moment they make a move. "Now what?"

Hiroki's expression melted back to his signature smile, and he walked out onto the main deck, stopping beside the main mast.

"Actually," he began, catching the attention of the other two. "I've prepared something for emergencies like this; in fact, it was probably the first thing I set up after building the essential parts of this ship." He pointed towards something that Kidd hadn't taken notice before; a small, red button just above the shipwright's eye level. "Let's put it to the test, shall we?" He pressed it.

The captain grinned as something beneath them roared to life and shook the entire ship- it was louder and created more vibration than the actual engine had ever done. The Sea Kings around them shifted and stirred, slowly being provoked as the tiny vessel barely bigger than their eyes disturbed their habitat by sending ripples through the water.

"Not a bad idea you got there," Kidd praised his still smiling shipwright, smirking at the Dolphin-Gorilla Sea King in front of him.

Killer, however, grimaced at the sight of that stoic smile. He walked to the side of the ship between their living quarter and the rail, and dug a scythe into the wooden wall, the other hand holding the rail firmly.

The engine roared louder, and it was cleared that the Sea Kings were irritated by then.

Only at that time did it occurred to Kidd to ask, "What does the button do?"

Hiroki answered, "It opens up blade-like rotators at the bottom of the ship, which, spinning at high speed, will create a single whirlpool. With enough water power generated, the force will send us flying for two kilometers where we may or may not land on water."

"Oh," said Kidd absentmindedly, still watching the Sea Kings. "A whirlpool, huh? That's- WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"Be prepared," was all he got back.

His heart pounded with panic as they somehow sank lower and lower down the center of a large whirlpool. "Killer! Stop this thing!"

"Can't," his first mate answered. "He already pressed the button."

He turned to Hiroki. "YOU-"

And before he could finish, they blasted off.

Kidd felt himself flying off the ship the next moment. Eyes wide open, he extended out a hand and called for his Devil Fruit power, attaching himself to the metal plates on the side of the ship, almost losing grip because of the strong wind that was trying to rip him away. He somehow managed to held on for the trip.

They crashed into normal Grand Line ocean, and he was submerged for five full seconds underwater until the ship stabilized.

Drenched and pissed, the redhead slowly pulled himself up and over, dropping on to the deck, coughing out saltwater.

"You- You..." he hissed, and coughed, the hand that was holding him up using the rail clenched. "I'll kill you..."

"Revenge is best served wet," Hiroki mused, taking his own spin on the old quote. "That was for calling me a nobody, Sencho. I may not look like one, but I have the memory of an elephant."

Kidd took none of this in. "I'll kill you..." he said again, glaring up at him with rage.

"You can't," Killer commanded, squeezing water out of his hair. "At least not until we reach Raftel, or find a replacement."

"I'll kill him..." He vomited rest of the seawater into the ocean.


	24. Inter Arc: Back and Forth

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _allycat18, Msaju17, doriansburial, _and _Brass Gear Trollop_ for reviewing! So. After this comes the Grand Line islands. Enjoy this break once again, 'cause thing will get a little rougher from here on for the better or worse.

Sorry for the late update too. T_T

* * *

Back

The fist that slammed down on the glass broke the table into millions of shards, big and small, making everyone in the room flinch. Though broken a table, Shinoda Takamaru's rage ran as high and as wild as ever, and it was only due to the fact that they were on the fortieth story of the building that stopped him from wrecking the room completely.

Pinacho stayed the furthest away from him, even more so than the guards, while Chiyo stood the nearest, wishing that she hadn't.

The yakuza boss' eyes were shadowed as his chest heaved up and down from loud breathing. "A pirate," he spat with disgust, his body flashing back and forth between human form and rock. "Why? You tell me why. WHY DID MY ONLY SON BECOME A PIRATE?"

Once again, nobody dared answer.

Five days had passed since Eustass "Captain" Kidd and "Massacre man" Killer escaped Brecciame. In that time, the Shinoda-Kai managed their legal escapes as well. It wasn't hard because it wasn't the first time that they were convicted of something; though that Commodore Yank had made it difficult on them. All would have been good and well, until his wife stepped up to him with a bloody handkerchief containing the tip of his son's small finger.

"_He performed Yubitsume. He said to tell you that he's a pirate now,"_ she'd told him. _"And that he's heading for Grand Line. Don't expect him to come back home."_

The fingertip and the handkerchief now lay amongst the broken glasses. He glared at them, and then glared up.

"I," he said in a low voice, anger radiating off his being like heat. "I spent over twenty years raising him into the perfect heir for this family. I spent over twenty years telling him just how much of scums are those sea dogs. He listened for that long of my teaching, and not once- not _ONCE_- did he ever express any interest in piracy! SO WHY IS HE A PIRATE?"

He turned to Chiyo, who went pale, refusing to meet his eyes. "You drove him away," he accused.

"I didn't," pleaded the woman in a hush. "He left on his own accordance. I didn't do any-"

"It's all because you want that second son!" he roared. "You threatened him, didn't you? You threatened to take him out of the family, so rather than that, he turned to those two sons of bitches who call themselves pirates! You took away the only successor of this God-forsaken family!"

His face twisted with absolute fury. "Every single one of you, get out of my sight!"

They sullenly exited the room one by one at his command. He watched the door closing, and slumped down on the sofa.

"A pirate," he hissed to himself, recalling Whitebeard. "He turned out to be a damn pirate!"

Takamaru took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, inhaling deeply before sighing. His son, a pirate heading for Grand Line. The thought was unbelievable and outrageous. Speaking of the Pirates' Graveyard, weren't there someone else at that hell of a place too?

Yes, the answer came in an instance. Yes, another bastard headed there as well. He took another puff and exhaled the anger. Hiroki should remember that fellow.

* * *

Forth

"Oi, we're sailing off course," Kidd said to Killer, who was sitting on a chair that had been nailed to the floor outside of the galley, arm plopped on a table, reading. He scowled at the sight. "Are you listening?"

"I heard you," the masked man replied, flipping the page of the newspaper. "I changed the rudder. There was a storm coming our way."

He seemed to accept that explanation. Nevertheless, it wasn't solving his problem of the moment- being bored to death. Should he get an early start on dinner? Fish? Or even, read? No, he decided moments later, sneering with disgust at all three options. There was just nothing to do. What would a captain of a pirate ship do for fun anyway? Slaughter marines? But there were no marine ships as far as he could see.

"Hm?" Killer's sudden noise grabbed his attention. He strolled over and plopped himself down on the floor beside the table, crossing his legs Indian style.

"East Blue got a new highest bounty head," the masked man answered and picked out a bounty poster that had been stuck between the pages. "Monkey D. Luffy, also nicknamed 'Straw Hat', of thirty million beri. He took down three major pirate crews and their captains, all worth over ten million beri."

Kidd arched an eyebrow at the picture of the grinning boy on the poster who looked more to him like a goofy dork than a fearsome pirate, and scoffed. "East Blue's highest bounty head is only thirty million beri?" He recalled his own bounty of thirty five million. "No wonder it's a weak sea. And those captains he beat; they were only above ten million?"

"The four Blues all have different standards regarding bounty rating," Killer said, flipping the page once again. "None of it would matter once you're in Grand Line. Here, we are weak, as far as people see us bounty-wise."

As soon as he finished the statement, the lower deck exploded upward and out flew their shipwright who, wearing goggles with a mask covering the latter half of his face, landed beside the large black hole made, covered in black, coughing his lungs out. The two blinked at the disintegrating black mushroom cloud, and the weird "blurp"-ing sound that was coming from underneath the floorboards.

"Please cover your noses," Hiroki said. "The fume is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and other poisonous gases. Breathing it is fatal."

"What the hell were you doing down there?" Kidd demanded as the smoke cleared out, looking very displeased at the big hole in the center of the deck as his shipwright took off the goggles and mask.

"Melting iron," came the answered, then to resolve further confusion, "The cannons of the old ship were rusty, so I thought of melting them and making new ones."

"It's a wonder that we didn't sink," Killer commented dryly. "One bad storm with molten iron weighting us down, and we're good as dead. Not to mention that this ship is made of wood, and the absurd temperature one will need to actually melt iron will burn us into crisps."

"Sorry," Hiroki apologized, dusting his hair. "...Maybe I should wait until we reach the first island?"

"There is a giant hole in the deck," Kidd pointed out.

"I see... I will wait..."

They stared at each other in one moment of silence.

"So," began the shipwright, who was all blackened except for the two circles around his eyes and the latter part of his face. "What were you talking about?"

"East Blue's new top bounty head," Kidd said. "He's only worth thirty million."

Hiroki walked over and picked up the poster from the table. "Monkey D. Luffy..." he muttered, scratching his chin, and smiled before turning to his captain. "You shouldn't underestimate someone like him, Sencho. One easy way for rookies to become stars is because their upper-men act careless. Besides, only seventeen and already the highest bounty head in a Blue? Who knows how he might be once people give him some time. He's a rival to be cautious about."

The thirty-five million bounty head scoffed.

"Which, speaking of bounties, Killer-san and yours should have risen too."

Killer shook his head as he finished reading the last article of the current page. "Not that I know of," he said, turning the paper. "Though we-" He stopped at the new poster that greeted his eyes, and slowly smirked. "Guess I spoke too soon."

In an instance, Kidd was at his side to catch a look. When he did, the redhead also smirked, his heart swelled with triumph. "45,000,000 beri," the masked man heard his crowed. "Heh, not bad..."

* * *

Back

The streets of Meridiano were loud and populated on one fine afternoon. Merchants had set up their stands and opened their offices, buyers littered and scattered around shops and street performers entertained small crowds, some acrobats, some musicians. All parted way as their local marine captain danced down the road.

Friendly natives laughed and cheered as Fork sang his anthem at the top of his lung endlessly, his subordinates looking mighty embarrassed as they stood by his shoulders, hands loaded with presents and sweets.

"Oi, Captain Fork, heading to Jeremy's party?" a man called out.

"Ay!" the captain answered, face shining. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" A soldier took out a bottle and sprayed rainbow confetti everywhere.

"Don't forget my house, Fork!" another man civilian shouted. "Jeez, you ruined our only good bathroom, you know!"

He took a break from his song and answered the call. "Will do, Samson! We'll take about this tomorrow over our usual tea and crackers!"

"You better, you jackass!"

"I will!" he yelled back. "JEREMY! YOUR FAVORITE UNCLE HAS PRESENTS FOR YOOOOOOUUUU!"

The poor underlings widened their eyes as their superior raced down the streets at incredible speed, leaving them in dust. They struggled to balance all the things in their possession as they screamed after Fork for him to slow down and wait. The marine captain could hardly hear them. No sooner than five minutes, he had arrived to the house of his younger sister, who lived on Twenty-Four Elm Street with her husband, Guro, and her son, Jeremy. The house at the moment had holes in two of the walls, and a kitchen voided of everything edible.

The family averted their attention from the repairmen on their roof to the new presence that was coming towards them from afar.

"Nii-san?" Spoon Sandara said as her older brother screeched to a stop in front of them. Jeremy immediately jumped with joy, and the birthday boy ran toward his uncle with outstretched arms.

"PRESENTS! I WANT MY PRESENTS!" Jeremy shouted at the top of his lung, bouncing with ecstasy. "Is it a giant spork like your, Uncle? I want a giant spork! Did you get me a giant spork? Is it your spork?"

"Jeremy!" the mother scolded and pulled her son away before turning to her brother. Fork's happy face froze as soon as he met her eyes of doom.

"W-What is it... Sandara?" he stuttered, scratching his head as his younger sister's hands balled into fists. His brother-in-law shook his head and gave him a sympathetic glance, shrugging his shoulders.

"Please..." she hissed savagely, eyes lit with dancing fire as the whole background of the scene burst into flame and darkness. "Take a good look at our house..."

He did.

And blinked. "What's wrong with it?"

Wrong comeback. The woman promptly ignited, exploding with wrath, raised a fist and punched the marine captain into the sky. Guro stared dumbfounded at his wife, who, by the way, used to be an ex-marine sergeant before she got married and became pregnant with their child. He never truly regretted the day where he'd gotten down on one knee in front of her with a ring, but there were times...

"Uncle Fork?" Jeremy asked the air as his uncle rocketed into the cloud, though he was quickly distracted by the coming marine subordinates and ran towards them with a big grin on his face, tearing open presents.

"You don't have to be so mean to him, dear?" Guro reasoned.

"Mean?" she huffed and crossed her arms. "I may have been, but this is the third time this year that he damaged our house chasing pirates! I love him and all, but I swear-" Fork landed feet away, creating a human-shaped dent on the ground. "-If he isn't such an idiot, he would've found a wife by now!"

The marines nodded in agreement.

* * *

Forth

"-32,000,000 beri, a seven million rise."

"First mates always get the bad end of the deal."

"Well, it has more to do with threat level than strength after all, Sencho."

"Too bad. We got this for your island or Meridiano?"

"Mine. Here, in it says, '...mass murdering of innocent civilians and marine officers on large scale, including the defiance of Commodore Yank, who was present for the arrests. Eustass "Captain" Kidd and "Massacre Man" Killer are slowly becoming a danger as a pirate crew, with Massacre Man already having a past record as a bloodthirsty man-slaughterer as the Vice Captain of the Cross-Blade pirates. It has also been reported that "Captain" Kidd possesses a weird ability that resulted in great destruction, much to be feared. Casualties of their plundering are...'" Hiroki trailed off there, scanning the rest of the article. "Long story short, you two got scapegoated. Since there is nothing on the Shinoda-Kai, I can safely assume that my father got away again."

"'...Mass murdering of innocent civilians...'" Kidd echoed, closing his eyes. The accusation disturbed him; he used to be a civilian- as civilized as he'd lived. Still, him being a murderer, it was unsettling for him to think about. "They aren't exactly lying," he eventually said out loud, staring down at the paper even though he couldn't bother to read a word. "I did kill a lot of people because I wasn't able to control my Devil Fruit power that time. The other times, I targeted only marines, but who knows; I might have killed a bunch because they got in the way."

"We're pirates," Killer said, facing his way. "Expect more of those coming."

Kidd gave him a scowl.

"Technically speaking, I still earn this bounty in South Blue of forty-five million beri, and Killer thirty-two million," he went on, remembering Straw Hat from minutes ago. "What was the highest bounty in South Blue, then?"

The masked man snorted. "If you think that you're even remotely close to beating the record, think again."

"The highest a pirate ever got before going into Grand Line was 135,000,000 beri," Hiroki responded to his question. "That pirate is 'Hell Kaiser' Marc D. Ante. He's one of the Four Kings. I trust that you've heard of him."

The Hell Kaiser? Kidd's thoughts flashed back to the time where Killer had made him memorize bounty names and prices, and the Hell Kaiser's name came back to him as one of them. The man had one of the highest bounties he'd ever encountered, not that he could remember how much it was right now.

_But a hundred and thirty-five million beri for a starter?_ He clenched his teeth. His petty little forty-five million paled in comparison.

"As for how he got it," Hiroki informed. "He killed three Celestial Dragons who were on a world tour and a former admiral who were sent to take care of him. He was quite the arrogant man, always bragging about conquering Grand Line. 'I will bring Hell on Earth!' is what earned him his epithet."

Ignoring the question about what Celestial Dragons were and the comment regarding the Hell Kaiser's person, the captain cracked his knuckles, his eyes looking far away. "A hundred and thirty-five million beri," he muttered.

"Hai, the Four Kings were all top pirates of their time: the Pirate King, Golden Lion, the Hell Kaiser and Whitebeard. All four men equal in strength," the shipwright said. "Legend has it that Ante reached Raftel the same time as Roger, though nobody knew what really happened. As soon as the Pirate King conquered Grand Line, he disappeared without a trace. Golden Lion vanished a year later before Roger's execution after breaking out of Impel Down. Out of the four big old-timers, Whitebeard remains the only one active."

All Kidd could bitterly think was, _I've got a long fucking way to go. I won't lose to anyone. The title of the next King of Pirate is mine, and I'll get it no matter what and make that mother complex freak take off his mask and acknowledge me._

_Especially not that stupid looking Straw Hat dipshit and his crew. _Then he thought about it. _Like they're going to be much competition, che._

* * *

Back

"ACHOO!" Every single one of the Straw Hat pirates sneezed.

"Strange," Nami muttered, rubbing her nose. "I'm sure that I don't have a cold." And, heaven, the orange-haired navigator hoped none of them had. There were not doctor on the ship, and she was probably the closest one to the job. "ACHOO!"

"ACHOO!" came the rest of the crew a moment later, with Luffy being the biggest. Their rubber captain flew backward by the sneeze and pouted. He almost had a tangerine 'cause Sanji wasn't looking his way. Hmph, stupid sneeze. Just feet away, Usopp sighed with relief when he saw that the hot sauce were not spilled out of the tiny bottle- it took a lot of money to purchases these things, and he didn't think their greedy navigator would give him anymore money than to buy what was essential. Probably not even that much.

"ACHOO!"

Nami scowled and rubbed her nose once more. Just then, she looked up ahead and saw a large seagull in paper-delivery uniform flying their way and her face lit up.

"Squawk!" the bird greeted her.

"Yosh!" she answered with a grin. "One roll!"

"Squawk!" the seagull pointed one wing towards the price tag on his shirt.

She immediately frowned and crossed her arms. "Eeeh? ...Come on, it wasn't this expensive last time!"

"Squawk!" the bird kept going. "Squawk!"

"I got that you don't set the price, but don't you think 900 beri is a little too much for plain old newspaper?" she complained.

The bird shook its head. "Squawk, squawk!"

"Fine," she huffed, fishing a coin out of her pocket and taking a newspaper from the bird's stack. "But next time the price rise, I'm not buying it, ya hear me?"

The bird nodded and whimpered, its face a droopy, tired expression. Seconds later, it took off.

* * *

Forth

"Wow," Hiroki muttered as he stuffed another spoonful of rice into his mouth. "This tastes almost like real food."

Several veins popped on Kidd's head. "Shut up, you incompetence, can't-cook-for-shit bastard! At least you're getting food!"

"Calm down, Sencho," the shipwright said nonchalantly. "I meant that as a compliment."

"That was _not_ a compliment!" the captain snapped, and stuffed another spoonful of his dinner into his mouth. Hearing no more answer, he faced his first mate, who was still reading- this time a book- on the same chair. "Oi, when are you going to eat, dumbass?"

"Soon," Killer replied.

Kidd glared at him. "I would say that the dishes are all yours, but you broke half of them last time washing them. So hurry up, I'm not staying up late waiting for you to finish eating." Hiroki had gotten up from the table, and disappeared to the rear deck. None of the other two paid any attention to this.

"Wash them in the morning, then. It's not like you have anything else to do," the masked man said.

"You don't understand what I'm trying to-"

The rumbling sound something being rolled stopped him in mid-sentence, and he turned towards the source, only to find Hiroki rolling a barrel carefully down the steps onto the main deck. He raised a questioning eyebrow as the barrel was set on its bottom with the cork facing up. No doubt this was a rum barrel. What was a rum barrel doing on this ship? "When did we get this?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I get it while we're on Meridiano," Killer answered. "They were selling at half price per barrel, so I bought one."

Kidd gave him a disapproving look. "I don't drink."

Before Killer could say anything, the black-haired man cut in, setting two empty mugs on their dining table and pushing aside the rice bowls. "You don't drink?" he asked, smiling with amusement. "We're pirates, Sencho, we have to drink. Here, try a cup at least."

"No," the captain refused. "The last time I tried rum, it tasted like piss with rotten egg."

"But this is highly produced wine, native of South Blue," the insisting man protested. "It's finely made and tastes superb. I had it a couple of times myself. You shouldn't compare this with cheap homemade grog." He filled the two mugs. "Have a sip. I guarantee you that you'll like it."

"I said no."

"You have to. You're a pirate," he reasoned, gulping don his first serve. "Yakuza or pirates. If you're a criminal who can't drink, then you're not badass enough."

This made the pirate captain stop. _Not badass enough... Why you..._ "Gimme that!"

Fifteen minutes later...

"Heh...Hahaha!" Kidd's expression was pure insanity. "You're right~!" he chortled, and landed a strong punch on his shipwright's back, who winced. "This _is_ good! It tasted nothing like the sh... the shit that _his_ former crew-" He pointed at Killer drunkenly. "-used to have!" All this ended with a hiccup. A couple of seconds passed. "I LIKE IT! REFILL!" The drunken redhead slammed the mug down on the table.

"But," Hiroki pointed at the half-full mug. "You still have some-"

"I want a refill!" his captain demanded, movement quite unstable. "If you do not give me a refill this instance, I will-" He never got to say what he would do, having collapsed asleep on the table.

All was quiet for a single moment.

"How much did he have?" Killer asked, not looking up from his book.

"About a cup and a half," came the answer. "I didn't think he'd have such low alcohol tolerance, or I wouldn't make him drink."

The masked man sighed. "That's just the idiot being himself, and it's about time he starts building up his tolerance too." He shut the book. "I'll carry him to his room. Clean up his mess, will you?"

"Sure thing."

* * *

Back and Forth

In the dead middle of the night, one single light lit bright on the ship of the Kidd pirates. In front of him, Killer rolled out a sheet flat, a paper that contained every single character of those books he'd taken from the soothsayer's hut. There were in total over a thousand different characters so far he'd gathered that were of Poneglyph writing. None he had deciphered, thought tonight, he would official begin.

He took a deep breath, made sure all windows and entrances were secured and took off his mask, rubbing his eyes and temple, running a hand through his hair. Nobody would see him, so it did not matter.

The bounties had confirmed his theory, and he'd never been more glad to have taken every single thing of the soothsayers.

Thirty-five million was way too much for a pirate who'd only taken down one pirate captain who wasn't all that dangerous to begin with. Truth to be told, the marines feared more of the men that Ghanga had under him than the actual pirate himself. It was understandable that his bounty rose ten million from killing all the underlings on his fa- Ghanga's crew- there were over a hundred of them, after all.

But Kidd's first bounty was another story. Only killing Cross-Blade, thirty-five was way too much indeed. He'd had suspicion since the beginning, but the newest poster spoke everything; a ten million rise comparing to a thirty-five million starter when that idiot had done more damage to an island than he'd ever done by taking down another pirate? No, he decided, that didn't fit.

And the only thing that could have been would be for the villagers on Kidd's home island to squeal about the curse, about the soothsayer. Marines must have investigated everything, and must have found traces of the Void century there. Since the soothsayer had passed away, they went after the legacy he'd left: the child he'd deemed as the spawn of the Sea Devil. The death of Ghanga was all in all a cover-up.

He didn't know what the curse was, nor did he think Kidd have any idea either; most likely if asked, the redhead would deny any curses. "It's a lie," he would say to Killer. "I can't believe that you out of all people in this world would believe it. Real soothsayers? Fortune-telling? What a bunch of bullshit! I'm not cursed!"

So it was up to him to find it.

In this world, there were two forms of writing, despite only one way of speaking: the Kanji and the Alphabet. He'd often wondered why as a child, just why there would be two forms and only one form of speech, especially when the two didn't resemble each other remotely. Research after research, he never found an answer. But he knew that for ages, it had been a struggle between the two, for these were equal in popularity. Most things like newspaper and modern books, he learned, were written using Alphabet- it was what they taught him as the correct way of writing in school. Yet, the vernacular writing was Kanji.

However, it was undeniable that Kanji brushstrokes greatly mirrored much of the line patterns used in Poneglyph writing, if one broke each part of the characters down. In essential, there were eight kind of brushstrokes in Kanji, as there were also eight similar ones in Poneglyph writing.

It was then that he decided- an entire language could not simply vanish like that.

Opening the first book- strangely titled _The Cookbook of Lolsa Hans_- to page eighty-four, he located the picture which said, "This symbol is the universal symbol for extreme spiciness." Also coincidentally enough, that symbol was upper part of the first Poneglyph character that he'd copied.


	25. Campbell Float

**Author's Note: **Thanks to _Allycat18, Doriansburial, yumeniai,_ and _Msaju17_ for reviewing! :D

Ah... This chapter did not turn out the way I wanted at all. This island was suppose to be normal, very un-Grand Line like. I wasn't even going to write it like this, but the idea would not let me go, and since they're on Grand Line I thought "Why not?" X3 I hope it still works out, fingers crossed!

* * *

Lightning streaked the sky, and thunder boomed for the hundredth time in the past ten minutes. Usually, this wouldn't be much out of the norm, except that the clouds were still white and fluffy, and the sun was still out. Also, despite the loud roaring and the constant blinding flashes, they were getting but the smallest drizzle of rain.

"Yesterday, we came upon a whirlpool that turned into a twister, the day before that we passed a upside down rainbow. This weather is screwed up," Kidd muttered to himself, feeling mighty uncomfortable even though he was inside the kitchen trying to decide what poison to serve his crew mates for lunch. The electric waves in the air caused by this so-call storm wasn't doing good for his nerves.

Just when he thought this couldn't get any stranger, a loud "BAM" rocked the whole ship, and he was positive that it wasn't the thunder's doing. He tried to glance out the windows, but all was covered in white. Hissing with irritation, he opened the kitchen door to the outside, and found the exterior to be covered in a foot and a half thick of pure white snow. The sun still shone and all was quiet. Over his head, a single seagull the size of a small boat flew by, casting shadow on the entire ship for a split of a second.

Killer's door creaked open, and the masked man stood still for a full minute. "We don't have snow shovels," was all he said after the silence. "At least we haven't had any severe storms so far."

"How are we suppose to move around with all this snow?" the captain whom he still had not acknowledged asked. "It's going to be inconvenient if we dock like this."

"We're reaching it?" Killer asked.

"Yeah," he replied, concentrating on the tugging instinct. "In about two hours, give or take ten minutes."

"Then the weather should be relatively stable for the two hours. Leave the snow, it might melt off by then."

* * *

They docked.

Save for two or three other ships and the sound of crashing waves, the shore was quite empty and quiet. Up ahead, two elders were taking a walk, holding hands, and right in front of their face was a sign that said, "Welcome to Campbell Float", and underneath that, "Population: 1854". Despite being an island on Grand Line, this place appeared nothing out of ordinary.

Kidd scowled. "I was hoping for something else," he said out loud. "You told us that Grand Line is full of weird places, so why is an island like this doing here?"

"Maybe it's a place that's so normal, it's weird," answered Hiroki with a shrug. "Whatever the case might be, you two go ahead with your buying and touring. I have a cannon system to put in, and heaven knows when we're going to need one with this sea swarming with marines and other pirates. If you're lucky, you might bump into a giant man-eating worm to cure your boredom, Sencho."

"That's not funny," he snapped. "I want _real _excitements!"

A hand grabbed his ear and pulled him away from the working shipwright, and he snarled at its owner, wrenching himself out of the grasp. "Don't do that to your captain!" he ordered Killer, who continued to walk forward unresponsively.

The masked man stopped ten steps later to wait for Kidd to catch up. "Here's the plan," he initiated as soon as the redhead caught up. "Since the last two times I sent you out alone didn't work, we're going to clear off this list-" He rolled out a list that touched the ground and then some. "-together. Which means that you're not allow to wander off and pick fights with anyone-" "On the last two islands, there were bounty hunting mafia and ma-"

The sudden cold air shut him up.

"Meanwhile, we'll also be asking around of how long it would take for a Log Pose to set. Start memorizing the magnetic field," the first mate ordered.

"It's not a conscious thing. I'll set when I'll set," Kidd said.

"Just tell me if you understand."

"Of course I do! What do you take me for? A idiot?"

"Yes."

Short and quick, no snappy or clever response. Kidd's eyebrows furrowed with vexation, and he felt the need to kick Killer, but held back. _Soon_, he decided, _it wouldn't be long._

He was so engrossed in his thought that he didn't see two men in suit jumping out of an inconspicuous corner at them.

"Hello there!"

The two pirates reeled backwards at the closeness of the two strangers, one was short and fat, the other tall and thin. Still they wore matching suits, matching grins, had matching pointy mustaches and was even doing the same motion of rubbing their hands together like they just spot gold. No doubt, they were business men.

"Welcome to Campbell Float!" the short and fat one started. "My name is I-O and this is my partner E-O! And we are..."

They did a little dance.

"...TOUR GUIDE PROS INC!" Two twirls and bows. "Our island is small but sensational, if you went to all the right places that is!" they chanted simultaneously.

E-O struck a pose. "For a small fee of 5,000,000 beri, we'll give you the tour of your life!"

"That's right!" I-O said. "It's a good deal! All other tour guides charges 8,000,000 beri or more! Also, we have discount specials this month where we'll take you to the most authentic restaurants-"

"Not interested," Kidd denied.

A palm was instantly thrust in his face, and the pirate captain narrowed his eyes. "BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!" I-O screeched. "For while our island is good and heavenly, every good has a bad face!" The two jumped back a few feet and threw off their suits to reveal black ninja outfits, accompanied with a sword each. "WE ARE NOT JUST TOUR GUIDES, WE'RE ALSO ABLE BODY GUARDS!-" "AND CERTIFIED CREATURE TAMERS!" "-Hire at 5,000,000 beri, at your service." They bowed again.

The redhead snorted. "Protect me? From what? Giant man-eating worms?"

"EXACTLY!" they cried.

Veins popped on his forehead and he grabbed one of them by the throat. "Look at us, you annoying ticks," he growled. "Do we look like bloodthirsty murderers to you?"

The one he grabbed- E-O- paled and gulped. "W- Well..." the man stuttered, looking back and forth between his assaulter and his assaulter's masked partner, who was emitting an icy aura at the moment, and broke out in sweat. "No- No, you two look exceptionally and exceedingly... beau- beautiful-" He choked as Kidd grasped his neck tighter. "I MEAN YES! YES! YOU TWO ARE THE MOST TERRIFYING PEOPLE WE'VE EVER MET!"

Kidd let him go. "So, we're not interest. Got it?"

E-O whimpered an "okay" as I-O rushed to his comrade's side. "Well," the short one said. "If you ever change your mind, we're here! THE TOUR GUIDE PROS- What? Did you say something E-O? ...Huh? Don't bother them? What do you mean? They're potential customers! ...Oh, they'll kill me? Oh... Okay."

By that time, their potential customers has already disappeared from sight.

"I told you to not pick fights," Killer scolded.

"What? You can't deny that they're annoying. Besides, I was only trying to scare them a little."

The weirdness began exactly ten minutes later when they walked into town. The people living here dressed normally enough, the houses were not of extraordinary, and as far as everything else went, there was nothing exceptional about this island, had Kidd not seen a giant worm suddenly shooting up in front of them and devouring a wooden house.

"Aw mom!" a little girl sitting in front of said house holding a doll called. "Lizzy ate our house again!"

"I told you not to bother me about that," the mother called from three houses over, where she was sitting with her friend on the porch, drinking her afternoon coffee. "Just tell Lizzy to leave our furniture and clothes undigested. Your father will be home tonight and we can camp out!"

"Really," another woman chuckled. "You still haven't trained her yet? Isn't she already three years old?"

"It's no big deal really," the mother waved off, laughing. "Lizzy has a big appetite, but she's an absolute sweetheart! We just have to make sure our next house isn't so house-like. I told him to build us a pineapple, but he insisted on a cube."

"A pineapple, of course he wouldn't- you'll stand out like a sore thumb. It'd be best if you train her."

"Yes, I suppose it would," the mother agreed thoughtfully. "But you don't have to worry, she knows better than to eat other people's houses."

_A sweetheart? _He stared at the worm with sharp teeth and green drools that was currently licking the little girl like a dog. _That thing?_ "What the hell?" he muttered.

"Quit staring," Killer said, walking ahead of him. "You're pretty strange-looking yourself."

Kidd immediately snapped back. "Look who's talking!"

* * *

The market part of the town took some time to reach, but they eventually got there with the help of a man with a panda's head instead of a human one. "Take a right and go straight," Panda-Man said, and Killer thank him.

"What the fuck is with this island's worms?" was the first time that came out of Kidd's mouth the instance they stepped onto the crowded streets, where half of the people had overgrown, razor-teeth worm either following them or carried by them if they were small enough. The worms ranged from all different sizes and lengths, but clearly the same species. "They're mutated."

"The two before said something about giant, man-eating worms, didn't they?" the masked man recalled I-O and E-O. "Though they're more like pets than wild savage beasts, or they were originally savage, but the people here domesticated them."

The redhead scowled at the encounter with the two tour guides. "_Hiroki_ was the first one who said anything about giant, man-eating worms. I thought he was joking!"

"That doesn't matter now," Killer said, rolling out the list. "As long as we don't get attacked, I don't care what kind of weird animals these islanders keep."

They walked no further than thirty steps when they got into the second controversy of the day. This one, Killer stopped for. Kidd turned back as well when he noticed that his first mate was no longer following him, and arrived back at the masked man's side, noticing the direction that the mask was facing. He was looking at a man with a Rockabilly hairdo that extended about one foot in front of his face, tight leather pants and vests, and black shades who was handing an ice cream cone to a little boy with an Afro who looked about nine or ten.

The little boy's blank face bloomed in delight at the treat and the two started talking. Nothing strange about the kid, but the man...

"He is without a doubt a pedophile," Killer observed thoughtfully.

"I can tell by the hairstyle," Kidd said, observing as well. "And only child molesters will wear that kind of clothes and sunglasses."

"Predatory perverts," the captain could hear the spat in his voice. "They disgust me more than the World Government."

"I remember one time, there was a pedophile in one of the neighboring villages. His target was his own daughter and nobody suspected a thing because there was nobody else in the family. The whole mess broke out when one of the village mayors found out that she's been sexually abused. He ended up getting lynched by a mob of mothers," Kidd said with a dark sneer. "I didn't know that those people target little boys as well. I thought it was just girls."

Killer scoffed, hands reaching for one of his scythes, and stayed there for some moments. "People like that are lower than dirt." They were so enticed in their conversation that they failed to notice the objects of their subject glaring at them with rage.

"Oi!" the "pedophile" barked, pointing at them. "We're right here, you know! Jerks! And stop calling me a pedo! Chuckie here is my little bro, dumbasses! We both have the same hair color, see?" He pointed to their hair. Indeed they were both sandy blonds.

"These people are weird, Nii-san," the little boy, named Chuckie, commented with a mischievous smirk and stuck out his tongue at them before resuming to his ice cream. "Neh, are you guys traveling circus freaks?"

Kidd's fists clenched and he advanced toward the brothers, a dangerous look on his face. "What did you just call us, you shrimp?"

"Circus freaks!" Chuckie shouted louder causing his older brother to burst into laughter. "Wanna make somethin' out of it, mista?" He stuck out his tongue once more, grinning. "We may not look like it, but we're pretty tough! Besides, you wear lipstick, baka! Baaaaaaaaka! Beh!"

His fists clenched tighter, and so did his jaw. "You brat..." he hissed, beginning to activate his Devil Fruit power.

The two brothers continued to snicker for some good ten seconds as they watched him with great interest the rage on his face, before turning one hundred and eighty degrees and speeding down the streets, howling with laughter.

"COME BACK HERE! I'LL FUCKING SKIN YOU ALIVE!" Kidd screamed, running after them.

"Oi-" Killer tried to stop the redhead, but didn't even get pass the first syllable of his protest before the idiot was out of hearing range. The masked man growled under his breath and ran after him.

* * *

They lead him away from the town, into a forest and up a mountain. It wasn't until Kidd reached about half way up did he noticed that the two sons of a bitch were no longer in his sight, and he stopped, looking furiously around for the brat and his pedophile of an older brother. Cursing under his breath that he bought no weapon with him- and noting to carry a dagger or two from then on- he suddenly felt himself being lift into the air.

Nets surrounded him.

_Shit! A trap?_

"Yosh!" the kid's cheer gave away his trappers' location, and the two dropped down from a tree, laughing victoriously. "We got him again! Wahaha, what a dumbass!"

"You're probably new here, stranger," the pedophile said with his pedophile-like, teeth-showing grin, giving him a thumb up. "But this island is the property of the Chuck Brothers! I am Mustang, and this is my little brother, Chuckie! Don't mess with us lest you'll suffer your worst nightmare!"

Kidd clawed at the thick net and peered down. "You two?" He spat. "If this is all you've got, then you two aren't worth shit!"

Chuckie blew him a raspberry. "Said the guy who got trapped like a squirrel," he taunted.

The pirate felt himself flushing pink with embarrassment as the "Chuck Brothers", as they called themselves, burst out laughing again. It was all fun and game for them while it lasted, for the next moment, a scythe attached to a rope shot out of nowhere without warning, and cut the top of the net, setting Kidd free.

Killer leaped into the scene, swinging his blade once more. The pedophile who called himself Mustang grabbed his brother and jumped out of the way immediately, barely dodging, before taking two pistols out from his vest and fired two shots. Both fires missed the masked man, who was moving too fast for anything to hit him at the moment.

Kidd turned away from the fight and focused his eyes on one shocked Chuckie, who was watching his first mate with amazement , and snatched the boy off the ground.

"Wanna fight now, little punk?" he growled with a death glare.

"Well... Hehe..." Chuckie chuckled nervously. "I'm only nine years old, so it's really not fair that you pick on someone smaller than you, mister."

"Oh?" he mused. "What happened to what you said earlier, huh?"

The cheeky brat stared at him with frightened eyes and twitching lips, sputtering nonsense. "Well... Uh... You see... Words have t-tendancy to... go on vacation sometimes! Mostly likely, they're somewhere on a tropical island now sipping lemonades. Maybe in twenty or... thirty more years they'll come back and we can count them again? What do you say?" He gave Kidd a thumb up. "Good deal?"

_What the hell is this shrimp blabbing about?_

But he never got to give an answer because of what was happening to Killer while said shrimp was trying to swindle him.

* * *

Killer was not trying to kill the man, but to just knock him out and give him a good kick in the gut or two- that would result in less trouble that they would have to deal with versus killing someone, reason being that they still had no idea how long it would take for a log pose to set for this island. If it set fast, he might just change his mind and let Kidd and him at them for the fun of beating up and burying a pedophile.

"For the last time..." _Bam! Bam! Bam! _He dodged two bullets and knocked away the third. "...I am _not_ a pedophile, you masked jackass!" Mustang shouted at him.

"Hmph, that's what they all say!" Killer retorted, charging towards the wrongly-accused pedophile again.

"Fine!" the other man declared and pointed. "You left me no choice! I will have to resort to my last tactic then!"

The masked man didn't bother with the threat, but just as he was about to land a blow, a tree branch came out of nowhere at him and knocked him off guard. He didn't stop there; he crashed into Kidd, who lost his grip on the boy, and they promptly hit the slanted ground of the mountain, tumbling down.

Chuckie cheered as their opponent rolled down the mountain and turned to give his worn out older brother a high five.

"Awesome, Nii-san! Those booby-traps that Chevy-nii-san set up really came in handy!" he said.

"Phew," Mustang sighed. "Geez, that masked man was ferocious. I really thought that I was going to die, thank heaven. And what's with him accusing me of being a pedo for? What a weird duo."

"It's the hair," the little brother said.

"What?" Mustang pouted. "What's wrong with my hairdo? Rockabilly hairdo is cool!"

"Not only that, but you dress like a pervert- Ouch! Hey, don't hit me!"

"I am not a pervert!"

"I know! But you look like one!"

Meanwhile, about a hundred feet below, our main characters had arrived to a stop. Kidd's bones ached with pain as he breathed deeply to calm down his racing, pounding heart- strange, the air smelled like old books, annoying and comforting at the same time. Leaves and small branches poked through his clothes and decorated his hair. He swallowed and relaxed, only to hear a cough.

"Get off of me," Killer demanded. "You're heavy. And stop breathing on my collarbone."

His cheeks flushed pink when he realized where he was, and scrambled off his first mate, who sat up, swearing none too creatively.

"Damn it," Kidd, too, swore, shaking out of his hair dirt and leaves and miscellaneous tiny wood pieces. "I can't believe that we got owned by a pedophile and a shrimp."

"Why the fuck did you go after that brat anyway?" Killer snapped.

"He provoked me first!" Kidd argued. "Besides, you were the one who stopped and made that pedophile comment!"

The masked man sighed. "Almost two hours wasted, and you still haven't set yet?"

"No. If I did, I would have told you."

"We got to find that out then, not to mention all the things that we still haven't bought-" "Woof!" "-Huh? …Did you hear that?"

The redhead scanned around. "A dog maybe? Che, not a big deal, but I'm hungry."

"All right, we might as well as get some real food while we're here."

Kidd's expression twitched. "At least my cooking is edible, you ungrateful bastard!" he barked, and received a scoff in response.

"Woof!" came the sound again. This time, however, neither paid attention-

Until the ground started rumbling.

The two pirates stood their ground as they felt the disturbance, Killer's hands on his scythes, and Kidd balled his fists, readied to beat the shit out of whoever that was there, even if it meant by some ways other than his Devil Fruit. Finally, the cause of the quake burst through the ground in forms of two giant, man-eating worms. They were panting with wet, green saliva-dropping tongues out, the inhuman eyes set on the two humans. The worms were the biggest ones they had seen thus far.

"Woof!" barked the first one.

_They.. bark?_ Kidd stared.

"Woof!" the second one barked.

"Are they going to eat us?" he muttered. "Killer! You're closer to them, get away!"

"Baka," the masked man said, beginning to rotate his weapons. "You're the unarmed one here."

One of them extended a tongue out and licked Killer's entire back. The blond flinched in surprise as the slimy green drool soaked through his clothes, and felt the urge to heave. The other one followed the first and did the same. "Oi-" Another lick.

"Are they tasting you?"

"How the hell should I know? But they better stop it, or I _will_ cut them in half-"

"That won't work. I tried cutting a worm in half once and it still lives. They regenerate very fast," Kidd informed, pleased to input in something that the know-it-all didn't know.

"Shut up!" It was obvious that Killer was getting pissed off by now with the dangerous temperature drop. The blond glared at the two monsters that towered above him who wouldn't stop licking him. "Why are they only tasting me?"

_Well, that's a good question,_ Kidd thought, before taking a seat to watch this increasingly amusing performance in front of him. From what he had just told Killer, his first mate probably had no idea where to start cutting so it would be a fatal hit to the giant man-eating worms. _Let's see; they are domesticated as pets, the first one we saw were licking the little girl... quite like they are licking Killer now, and they pant and sound like dogs._

"I think they like you," he concluded with a snicker as Killer spun his scythes again, only to have one of the worms to lick his entire front too. You could practically see hearts floating up in the air each time. Did one of the worms purr? The snicker became a permanent grin on his face. "Yes, they definitely like you." The temperature must be below freezing now.

"You shitty dirt-eaters..." the drool-covered man hissed, putting away his scythes. "I don't have to cut you..."

A moment later, the worms flew up into the sky, squealing in pain like pigs.

Kidd's grin and snickers bloomed into full fleet laughter by the end. The redhead clutched his stomach, out of breath.

The cold blade on his neck cut him off, and he froze.

"Laugh again and I'll decapitate you," Killer growled.

* * *

By the beach on the other side of the island, the third crew member of the Kidd pirates pulled the protection mask off his face and sighed at the second hole created on the deck.

"Well, well, well," Hiroki muttered to himself. "Second attempt and still unsuccessful. Who'd have thought that it'd be so hard to melt iron? And I made another hole too..." He looked at said hole with sorrow. "Perhaps, I should take a walk and hope to be inspired along the way? Do we have enough money for new cannons? I don't know. I will ask Killer-san later. Does this island even produce cannons?"

He hopped down from the ship and began walking.

Twenty minutes later, he crossed over a wall of rocks and onto another beach.

It was then that he spot his "inspiration."

The ship in front of him was vast, perhaps only slightly smaller compared to his captain's last ship. However vast, he could see that she wasn't an old vessel, but one newly made probably within the year, or even the month. What was even more, she was wonderfully equipped with new cannons as far as he could see. New cannons that would no doubt be great for their own ship.

The only problem being was the Jolly Roger on the flag of this ship- a skull bone with a knife and a whip crossing behind it. The name of the pirate crew did not come to him, but that didn't disregard the fact that the ship was claimed, which distressed him greatly until he remembered that he was a pirate himself and had every right under the sun the rob and raid an enemy's ship.

"Anyone on board?" he called out.

A yell, so yes, there were definitely people on board. He hoped that it wasn't the entire crew, or else he'd be in trouble if they find him to be an enemy pirate.

"Eh?" The head of a gruff-looking man looked down at him from the rail. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name isn't important," he answered. "But if you may tell me, is your captain on the ship right now?"

"No," the man said, looking at him suspiciously. "Me and my mate are guarding this babe. What the fuck do you want?"

"I see... That makes things a lot simpler."

"Huh?"

Ten minutes later, the two ship-guards lay stilled on the deck, mouths duct-taped as their attacker rolled a second cannon out and set it beside the first one.

"Sorry, but since we're pirates, this kind of things should be expected," Hiroki excused. "I hope your captain are compassionate enough to forgive you for this. Thank you, and I will be back later to retrieve the other cannons. See you again in an hour or so."

"MMRPH!" they cried through the tape. "MMPH, MMRPH! MMMMRPH!"

He threw two cannons on to the soft sand and landed safely beside them, picked them up each on one shoulder and headed back for his ship. "I hope nobody is raiding ours. I carelessly left her unguarded too, that's not good," he mused. "And this should stir up some excitement for Sencho."

The trip back was longer than he'd expected. Campbell Float was a Spring Island, from what he could gather about the weather, and the breeze coming in from the sea was nice. Yet, such lovely weather made no difference if one had to carry two large iron-made objects on the shoulders, and walk with them for twenty minutes. The weights were straining, and Hiroki soon regret taking both. Had he only took one, it would have definitely been an easier walk.

But heaven seemed to be smiling upon him today.

"Oi!" someone shouted from a distance, coming closer. He turned around slowly to see two blond strangers running towards him, one a buff, muscular man with a Mohawk, and another a leaner teen who was trying to catch up. "Do you need help?"

He settled down the cannons and waited for them. "Good day," he greeted civilly. They looked like locals, and he suppose if they were friendly enough to offer help, he'd take it,

"Wow," the Mohawk one muttered. "Those cannons look heavy. Have you been carrying them around all day?"

"No," he replied. "Just started about ten minutes ago. I have to haul them to my ship, but yes, they are heavy. Thanks for your concern."

The teen bent down and lay a hand on the cannon, captivated by its shine. "These are nearly new..." he muttered, examining it with critical eyes. "Nice cannons, Onii-san!"

Hiroki gave him a smile and decided that it wouldn't be a wise idea to tell them that he stole them. "Yes, they are," was all he said. "Are you here to help? I'm afraid that I'm rather busy."

The mohawk man grinned at him. "Of course, we've got nothing better to do at the moment anyway. We were just taking a pre-dinner walk," he said, picking up one of the cannons with the help of the teen. "My name is Camry, and the squat behind me is my young brother, Chevy. We're pretty well-known to this place." He held out a hand for Hiroki to shake. "Just ask for the Chuck Brothers if you need any help here!"

The pirate shipwright shook it. "Hiroki, please to meet you," he introduced, and picked up the second cannon.

Really, it was much easier this time around.

* * *

The dull eyes of the old man behind the counter lit up as two strangers- one young man with goggles and lipstick and the other with a helmet mask covered into green drool- burst into the restaurant and placed themselves on the benches. Both of them looked rather angry.

"Yes?' he croaked. "How many I help you?" They get eccentric people all the time, being an island on Grand Line, but these two were by far the craziest pair he'd seen. Indeed, the two were attracting the attention of quite a few people.

"Three bentos," the masked one snapped, facing towards the redhead, who was glaring right back.

Sure," the old man said. "What choices of seafood? Shrimp, scallop, crab, salmon-"

"Everything," the goggled one said, still not breaking the glaring contest.

He nodded. "Three bentos, coming right up." The old man disappeared into the kitchen to put in the customers' order, and emerged moments later to find them in the same stance. He sweat-dropped. "Please don't start a fight in my restaurant. Repairing bills are hard to pay off and times are hard right now."

They sneered at each other and finally looked away after minutes.

"You two looked troubled. Not liking this island?" the old man asked.

"Ossan," Kidd demanded. "What the hell is up with the worms on this fucking island?"

"We don't have time to chat about trivial things like that," Killer said.

Ignoring what the masked man said, the old man started answering Kidd's question. "The Giant Man-Eating Worms?" he said. "Why, they're a native species to this place, been here long before we people arrived- Oh, hold on a second. Sakura woke up." He bent down. "Sakura-chan, won't you come up?"

_Who's Sakura?_ Kidd wondered. "So they do eat people?"

Sakura, a Giant Man-Eating worm of three feet long and four weeks old, crawled up to the shoulder of her master and draped herself around him. "Good girl," the old man cooed, scratching the flesh beneath her razor-teeth mouth. She purred back with contentment, stopping when she saw Killer, and headed for him with interest, tongue extended out.

"Keep that thing away from me," the masked man growled darkly, and the old man gently pulled his pet back.

"No need to fret, young one," he smoothed an enraged Killer. "Sakura is very well-trained. She'll never harm a customer." Turning to Kidd, he said, "Now, as I was telling you. The Giant Man-Eating Worms are a species native to this island. They're very misnamed, due to what first happened when we tried to settle here. One the first day- and I remembered this, even though I was but a young chap at the time- one of the worms swallowed o' mister Jerkins, who was the father of our mayor.

"Of course, the people flew into panic, but was too scared to attack. For three days, we called these wondrous creatures Giant Man-Eating Worms," he explained. "However, on the third day, o' mister Jerkins unexpectedly returned from the high mountains, not a hair harm on his head. The only thing missing was his favorite hat, which was house-shaped. Turns out that the Giant Man-Eating Worms do not eat man at all, but things that shape like houses. That's why o' mister Jerkins survived the digestion process, and ended up outside, though very smelly, I might say. But their eating of house-shaped things caused great distress to us when we were trying to build up our town, so we ended up training and domesticating most of them as pet. They're very friendly."

Kidd thought about the story of o' mister Jerkins as the old man fed Sakura a cookie in the shape of a house. "So that means, if the worms had accidentally eaten Killer, then..."

He didn't bother finishing that thought, and instead burst out in a fit of laughter.

Five seconds later...

"How long does it take for a Log Pose to set on this island?" the masked man asked.

"...About three days," the old man answered nervously.

"Thank you."

"No problem." He leaned over and peered down the other side of the counter at Kidd, whose head had just then scored four dates in a row with Killer's fist, and his gut with Killer's foot once. "...Will he be all right?"

"He's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"He's _fine,_" the masked man emphasized. "He's very _lucky_ that I didn't kill him."

The old one shook his head. "Whatever your say."

"I have another question," Killer said as the redhead slowly got up. "Why is this town so open-minded about pedophiles trying to kidnap little children? I witnessed one happening in broad daylight."

"They were _brothers_," Kidd snapped at his first mate.

"Ohoho," the old man chuckled. "I think I know whom you're talking about. Is it Mustang and Chuckie causing trouble again? Ah, yes, yes, they're brothers all right. Nothing perverted going on between those two, but Mustang do need to adjust his fashion statement, though good luck convincing him otherwise. They may seen unusual at first, but the Chuck Brothers are good kids."

Kidd sneered.

"But if you ask me, you two met up with the worse two of the four. Camry and Chevy, second and the third eldest, are much more better behaved boys," he continued. "Overall, they're still good. After all, they're the ones who fought off most of our pirate attacks over the years after their father passed away from one of them fights eight years ago. Their mother died giving birth to Chuckie, so it's explanatory why Mustang and Chuckie would act rude towards strangers. Just be glad that you're not pirates, or they'll really wipe the floor with you! Ohohohoho!"

"Wipe the floor with us?" the pirate captain echoed, and smirked at the challenge.

"What was that- Oh? Your orders are ready. Here you go, three bentos. That will be 9,000 beri."

They paid him and left, talking amongst themselves.

The old man sighed as he watched them go. "My, my, so weird, isn't that right Sakura?" The worm munched on the last cookie. "Go fetch the newspaper will you, girl? I think the Delivery Seagull dropped a roll in front. Geez, those birds are always late lately."

"Woof!" she barked as she finished her final bite, and slithered out from under the counter towards the roll of newspaper out front, grabbed it with her teeth, and slithered back.

"Good girl," her owner praised. "I will bake you another batch of cookies for breakfast tomorrow. Victorian houses, your favorite?"

"Woof!" she barked happily and panted with delight.

"Victorian houses it is!" He chuckled and sat back down on his chair, opening to a random page in the paper while muttering to himself, "The world is so chaotic right now. I missed the old ages where the seas were calmer and safer to travel on- Huh?"

His relaxation ended there. Posters of two familiar people stared back at him, and he froze with horror.

"For- Forty-five million beri and thirty-two million beri?" his voice quivered. The paper fell from his hand as he gazed up towards the front door, where Eustass "Captain" Kidd and "Massacre Man" Killer had just exited through. "Those two are pirates?"

* * *

A cannon dropped loudly onto the soft sand, and Hiroki stopped, placed his down too beside the other one, and waited.

"This is a pirate ship," Chevy said, gazing at the flag.

"You can tell that it's a skull?" the shipwright asked. "Incredible. Maybe it is just me after all."

However, this didn't serve to amuse the two brothers. "You're a pirate?" Camry demanded, his voice low and dark.

He smirked. "Is that a problem?"


	26. Of Rose and Thorn

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Brass Gear Trollop, Skadi Skadi no mi, doriansburial _(100th reviewer! WOOT! 8D)_, yumeniai, Allycat18_, and _ChibiFluffy_ for reviewing!

Sorry for the late update. For some reason, even with my knowing exactly what to write, this chapter refused to come out properly. I had to do several scenes twice. Maybe it was because I wasn't in the mood to write for the past five days? :(

To _Skadi Skadi no mi_: Your PM was disabled, so I wasn't able to send you a PM regarding your question, but since I think that other people are probably wondering the same thing, I decided that answering it here would be better anyway. :)

FIC SPOILER ALERT!

Oda-sensei gave us seven known crew members so far, Kidd and Killer included (as of chapter 592). In this story, I planned a total of thirteen Kidd pirates by Sabaody Archipelago, spread throughout different arcs- again, Kidd and Killer included. The New World is still vague to me, but that's because One Piece still hasn't venture into the second half of Grand Line yet, so any more new nakamas for there are pending, but unsure. That means that there will be six OCs in the crew, one of which already joined. Since the story will take about 130 to 140 chapters, I'd say that Sabaody Archipelago will be around chapter 80 and that's when we'll have the whole crew (as of my outline thus far, that is).

As for "Eddie" the blue haired guy, he's on the third island. We're still on the first. ;) "Bat-chan", the guy in black, will be... Let's see... on island number five. They'll also be going by the names I gave to them until Oda-sensei names them. Hope that helps!

* * *

Camry never got the chance to attack before his target shot out a hand and tapped a point on his neck; the next thing he knew, he wasn't moving.

"I appreciate that you helped me, and I understand that to be civilized with a pirate is beyond normal civilian's comprehension." Hiroki said. "Your attacking me is unavoidable, I imagine. However, to actually win, don't try to go against me barehanded next time. You can't win this way."

The pirate dodged as a blade swung at his head, barely missing strands of his hair. He glanced towards the wielder, Chevy, who was glaring at him with uttermost hatred.

"Pirates killed our dad!" he shouted. "If we had known you're one of them, you'll be dead a long time ago!"

Hiroki averted from the smirk to his usual smile. "In that case, I offer my sorrow for your loss, but I'm not the pirate who killed your father. Please don't blame me for something that I didn't do."

"Shut up, pirate!"

The shipwright dodged once more and took the opening to shot out a hand and paralyze the other brother as well.

"Like I said, please don't blame me for something that I didn't do. That's rude and unreasonable," he lectured, picking up the two cannons and climbed the ladder onto _Maria._ "Beside, stereotypical bloodthirsty pirates are stereotypical. I won't kill someone for the fun of it." He turned to look at them. "Lucky for you, I find you two likeable, so don't make me resort to killing."

Four hours later, the sun was beginning to set, and he had stolen by then twenty cannons from the ship of that other pirate crew. It took ten trips of running nonstop back and forth between the beaches. The guards had freed themselves on his third time back, so he ended up knocking them both out. Camry and Chevy remained frozen in their poses on the beach as he worked, shouting profanities and death threats until their throats started to hurt.

* * *

"Dinner! Camry-niisan!" the voice of a hyperactive little boy burst like a booming drum throughout the tiny house. "What are we having today? Oh, and Mustang-niisan and I have a story to tell you two! Today we kicked asses! There were two really weird circus people in town and they called-" He stopped and frowned at the lack of answer. Normally, there would've been delicious smell of dinner wafting from the kitchen, and Chevy would've had set the table. "Where are they?"

A tiny bark answered, and Chuckie's face lit up with happiness as their pet Giant Man-Eating Worm of four months old crawled from under the sofa and slithered towards him. "Ren!" the boy cried, encircling his arms around the body of the worm, who was already five feet and three inches long and a foot wide in diameter.

"Woof!" Ren barked back and licked him.

Seconds later after the greeting, the oldest of the Chuck Brothers jogged up the road cheerfully, stopped behind his little brother and stuck his Rockabilly head beyond the door into their houses. "Oi, Chuckie, Ren, don't block the door," he complained.

"But they're not home," Chuckie said, releasing the creature from his embrace.

"Of course they are!" Mustang laughed off and stepped inside. "OI!" he bellowed. "WE'RE HUNGRY!"

After three seconds of absolute silence, he, too, frowned. "That's strange. Camry would normally throw a knife at my head if I shout that loud."

"Nii-san, you don't think..."

They exchanged weary looks. Ren stuck her head in between, a question mark popping above her.

"They couldn't have..."

The looks turned angry as they screamed together. "THEY CAMPED OUT WITHOUT TELLING US!"

* * *

"Last stop," Killer said as they arrived in front of a pub, their purchases slung over their shoulders in large black bags.

Kidd looked up at the sign above the place with an expression of indifference.

_Ro... Rose and Th... Th..._

"It says, 'Rose and Thorn,'" Killer helped.

A vein popped on his head. " I know that!"

"You were staring at it for two full minutes," the masked man pointed out.

Kidd scowled. "Whatever! Just don't buy any cheap-ass grog or I'll throw them all overboard," he said. "I want quality drinks."

With a "Hmph", the masked man pushed opened the double door and stepped into a darkly lit room where the smell of alcohol and sweat danced heavily in the air. Ignoring the cheap odor of bad, under-quality drinks, Kidd followed him, growling with annoyance under his breath by the glances the bastards inside shot at them as they made their way pass tables towards the bar. Interests of the newcomers quickly dissipated after seconds when said bastards returned to their own businesses.

No sooner than half a minute, the murmur in the room skyrocketed as someone laughed loudly, catching the attention of nearly everyone. The redhead, too, turned with curiosity as his first mate placed an order for two cask of the pub's finest sake. His golden eyes landed on a table in under the brightest light bulb in the room, and found the laugh belonging to a middle-age looking man with brown hair and bushy eyebrows that were so long and hairy that he was able to tie them as pigtails that hung pass his face. However, what was even more noticeable that caught the young pirate's eyes were the clothing that he wore- a pirate captain's hat with the symbol of a skull and whip and sword crossing behind said skull, and a long brown captain's coat. The men surrounding him were no doubt his lackeys.

_Another pirate crew on Grand Line_, Kidd thought, his blood suddenly began pumping faster with excitement. _Should I take him out? He's competition, isn't he?_

"What's with that grin?" Killer's voice interrupted the flow of the temptation. Behind the mask, he followed the direction of Kidd's eyes, and narrowed his own. "Don't. We still have two more days to go."

"I know," the captain replied, taking one last look of the rival captain and faced the opposite direction.

The bartender, a timid-looking young woman who was biting her lips with fear and frantic, fumbled clumsily to keep up with the overwhelming demands of more drinks.

"Sorry," she apologized to Killer with terrifying eyes, hands trembling as she placed three mugs on one tray. "We're very busy tonight, but I will get your sake out here. Just please give me a minute." With that, she rushed out to serve her customers.

"'We'?" the blond echoed with she left. "She's the only one here."

"She looked as if she's about to cry," Kidd drawled. "What the hell is she working in a pub anyway if she's so scared of pirates?"

"Oi!" the other pirate captain boomed. "I ordered a beer ten seconds ago! Where is it?"

"S-Sorry," the girl stuttered. "But my father's out sick and I'm not-"

"GET OUR FUCKING DRINKS AND SHUT UP, BITCH!" he roared as she yelped with fright. "By Davy Jones, this place is getting on my nerves!" the man declared. "Bad bars, ugly waitresses, and weird-ass monsters being keep as pet?" He swiped a drink from someone else and downed it. "Three days, in three days, I'll burn this shitty island into crisp before taking everything! The world will bow in fear to the mighty Captain Carter! Bwawawawa!"

"AY AY!" the audience around him chorused back.

_Heh_, Kidd found himself smirking at hearing those kind of words spoken in such a tone, and looked at his first mate with glee. "Reminded of anyone?"

"Yeah," Killer said, knowing exactly whom the redhead was talking about. "Pirates like that are typical and common; their barks are worse than their bites and when real trouble comes, they either turn a blind eye or run with their tails tuck between their legs. Though this Captain Carter sounds a hell a lot more overconfident than Ghanga ever did and with nothing to back him up- I don't recognize him to be a bounty head at all. He's bound to die sooner or later on this sea. Don't waste our time when a marine trainee could easily take care of him with wet mop."

He only continued smirking as Carter's obnoxious voice reigned the whole room with his tales of slaughters and pillages.

A whimper from behind the counter caught his attention.

_Someone else is there?_

A second whimper of a higher pitch. This one caught the female bartender's notice as well and she quickly poured out the rest of the drink and hurried for the counter. At once, Kidd knew what the noises were; two Giant Man-Eating worms.

"...That old hag told me that she used to be a marine, and- Eh... Where did that wench go?" Carter growled. "OI!"

"So- Sorry," the girl said back and quickly grabbed two more bottles of booze from the shelve behind her.

"YOU LATE ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL DESTROY THIS PLACE!" he roared, and threw an empty bottle at her, missing her and hitting the shelves to smash three unopened drinks, and sent glass shards flying all over the place.

Kidd didn't move as one shard flew by his cheek and landed behind him. The girl screamed, sobbing as two painful wails came up from beneath the counter. "Rose! Thorn!" She cried, and glared at the pirates through her tears, who were laughing at her from the other side. "You... You monsters!"

"Did they die or something?" the redhead muttered.

"Injured," Killer said. "Glass shards could hardly kill creatures like that."

The girl was getting hysterical as each seconds passed. She was a sobbing mess, on her knees trying to aid the wounds of the pub's namesakes. Beside him, Kidd felt the familiar sudden chill from his first mate, who remained calm while the crowd howled on. The laughter was annoying to say the least, but obeying Killer's words, he attempted to hold down his irritation.

"That's funny!" someone hollered. "Hahaha! That almost made up for her stupidity! Look at her, she's crying over two slugs! Ahahaha!"

_Lowlife, desperate losers,_ the redhead thought, death glaring the rows of bottles in front of him, though his fists clenched. Y_ou're getting on my nerves. Shut the hell up before I kill you!_

"Maybe we should take her to the ship and have some fun with her before we kill her and use her dead body as fish baits!" another suggested. "Neh, what do you say, Carter-sencho?"

"Bwawawa!" the captain laughed. "No way in hell, there are plenty more prettier whores on this island than- Eh... Why is the room so cold?"

_Killer? _The masked man was motionless, as if he couldn't count on himself to not hurt someone if he'd move. _Must have been the reminder of his father, and he did say that he despise perverts, didn't he? _"Should we?" he invited, seeing his first mate provoked.

"No," Killer declined, although it sounded as if it should've been a "yes."

"We can make this quick."

"No," he reinforced.

However, the situation didn't go the way that the masked man had intended. What happened next ruffled feathers- Kidd's feathers, specifically.

"Hey, you there by the bar! Yes, you two," Carter called rather laid back. "Sitting there for ten minutes already, join our conversation! Partying with pirates can be fun if you behave properly." The last part sounded almost like a threat. "And tell that useless girl to bring some more booze while you're at it!"

The younger captain bared his teeth and turned around, looking coldly at the older as if he was the roach beneath the sole of his shoe. "Are you ordering me around?"

"I said not to, Kidd," Killer warned, and was all but ignored as the other glared on.

By the question, Carter's temporary good mood was despaired as well. "Are you questioning an order? You do know that we're pirates, right, brat?"

"Yes," the brat hissed. "And I don't take orders from other pirates."

The men around them shuffled and quieted, sensing a fight coming. Behind the counter, the girl had also taken notice and stopped her crying. All was silent save for the small whimpers from the two harmed worms.

"You a pirate?"

Kidd narrowed his eye at the way that question was spoken- it wasn't uncertainty or doubt, but flat out disbelief. What the hell? Was this man mocking him? He sat up straight and lift his head to met the stares.

A snicker broke from Carter's lips the next moment. "You?" he said again. "A pirate? Bwawawa!" His men snickered with him. "I don't think so! Tell me Graso, does he look like a pirate to you?" Graso, whoever the shithead was, obviously answered no. "Tell me, you there, tell me! Does he look like a pirate?"

A chorus of "NO!" arose from the crowd in the mist of the laughter, resulting in even more deliriousness from the insane, drunken pirate crew.

Shadows had fallen on Kidd's eyes. "You want to test that?" he dared, and gazed up with a murderous glare that silenced almost everyone, his left hand readied.

Carter ignored his challenge. With widened eyes he glanced at the redhead up and down, sneering. "How many other ships? How many people have you killed? Eh? I've plundered islands after islands for nearly a year in North Blue, and I've never lost a fight, never spared an enemy's life! What about you, little rookie?"

_Rookie? A year and you're calling me a rookie? _Kidd sneered back. "You're talking to the future King of Pirates, numbskull," he stated. "Watch your mouth, I may be kind enough to spare even _you!_"

And they burst out laughing again, louder and more openly than ever, as if that was the funniest thing they had ever heard.

"So he's one of _those_ idiots!" the man beside Carter said. "Hahaha! The King of Pirates, what a joke!"

"Ay, why does he think that being pirates is the best money-making thing out there right now?" their captain agreed. "It's all because we smart ones loot morons like him- morons who're all about _dreams_ and _adventures!_ Here, kid, let me tell you where One Piece is- at the bottom of the sea! Drown, drown and you'll get there! Bwawawawa!"

Kidd by then was white with absolute rage as the entertained crowd hollered on. Veins had formed on his forehead and neck, and his teeth were bared like an animal's. The laughter rang in his ears.

Never in his entire life had he been more insulted! They were laughing at him, laughing at his one goal, laughing at the one damn thing that gave a meaning to his life, the door that Killer had opened for him! ….Killer, him too... Thinking of his first mate, his blood boiled with the realization. They were laughing at Killer too! To say that him being the Pirate King was impossible, to say that One Piece was a joke, they were insulting Killer's belief in him as well! His jaws set with anger and determination, refusing to tolerate the mockery. Just what gave them the right to make fun of the one person whom only _he_ may taunt!

His whole body tingled as he activated his Devil Fruit power, and all pans, knife, every metal hinges and pieces in the room started to rattle in response. Carter saw this strange occurrence, and froze, though his crewmates were too distracted to brother. Flexing one hand, Kidd pushed himself out of his seat, nerves snapped and adrenaline pumping in his bloodstream, ready to murder.

"Stop it," Killer commanded.

"But he-"

"_Stop_."

_Why are you telling to me to stop? He's laughing at us, at _you_! Let me kill him!_

"That's right, Pirate-Wannabe-chan, you hear him," Carter slurred, regaining back his senses. For a second, he'd thought that he was seeing electricity around the boy and hearing things rattling. It must have been a trick of the light and the beer after all. "Stop, or we'll slit your throats!"

Killer grabbed him by the arm. "We're out of here."

Kidd shot him a furious look and struggled against the grip, having no success. A moment later, he was dragged out of the pub. Finally released when outside, he exploded at his first mate.

"What the fuck? What the _fuck _was that? You were as angry as me, so why would you let me kill him?" he screamed as Killer adjusted their belongings. "They were laughing at me, at us!"

Seeing the masked man so impassive about his tantrum, he roughly grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down to face level. "They said that One Piece doesn't exist, you hear them!"

"And I said to not waste time on them. We have two more days on this island. If you want to kill, then wait until we leave. Don't stir up unnecessary trouble when we can avoid it," the held man snapped, pulling his hands away. The redhead stared at him with fuming silence. "Let's go. If we can't find another place to buy sake, then we're heading back to the ship."

Inside the pub, Captain Carter was at his height of the evening as the Devil-like brat stormed out of the door with his masked partner. Never in his life had he had such a good laugh. Pirate King indeed! Hah! As if!

However, with the absences of their temporary entertainers, the place soon returned to normal, and that wench had still not left her place on the floor.

With the lack of booze in front of him, Carter grinned wickedly and stood up. "Raid," he gave the order.

* * *

"Well?"

Once again, they gave no answer.

"I know that you're not deaf, and I also know that you'd prefer to not be like this for the rest of your lives," Hiroki reasoned for the umpteenth time in that ten minutes. "Not to mention that my captain would be rather angry with me if he comes back and finds you two here. I'm not suppose to start anything with the natives, you know?" He tilted his head to the side as both brothers pursed their lips. "Aren't you tired of standing like this? At all?"

"OF COURSE WE ARE, YOU BASTARD!" Camry barked at him. "Free us at once!"

"But you haven't promised to leave us alone yet," the pirate bastard pointed out. "Therefore, I cannot free you unless you gave me the guarantee. Keep in mind; I don't mean any harm to you. I won't kill anyone unless I absolutely have to. If that happens, it would be unfortunate, but I doubt that violence would be needed.

"Nii-san-" Chevy began.

"No!" his older brother snapped back. "Have you forgot how pirates are? That's just a part of his act. As soon as he get the chance, he'll try to raid us like all those other past bastards had! We fought them all back, but their damages to the town is irredeemable! What they'd done to Dad cannot be forgiven!"

"But you're not going to accomplish much defending if you just stand here," Hiroki said. "Please think logically about this. Trust me, I am not a liar."

"LIAR!" the Mohawk man instantly accused.

"Nii-san..."

"..." Hiroki stared at him for a minute, and then said in the most neutral voice, "You will regret calling me a liar."

About two miles up the road, a certain captain with red hair suddenly shivered.

"What is it now?" Killer asked.

Kidd frowned. "...Nothing."

Back to business.

The shipwright crossed his arms and sat down on the sand, closing his eyes and seemed to have zoned out in a meditative manner. "Then we've got no choice but to wait."

* * *

"CAMRY, YOU NINCOMPOOP!" Mustang screamed down a random street, earning much negative feedback in forms of colorful words and flying objects from the citizens and Giant Man-Eating Worms of Campbell Float.

"WOOF!" Ren barked in agreement, tailing his older master.

"Oi, nii-san, should we look in the mountains again?" Chuckie asked as they ran another block, still finding no shadows of his missing brothers. They had been running around for nearly half an hour now and had no success. "Even if they didn't go camping, they don't seem to be in town." Chuckie had found all their camping gears well stored in the basement, untouched.

"Hold on," the Rockabilly man said, peeking down an alleyway and turned around again. "They must be here some times earlier. We can ask around."

"What about the beach?" the boy suggested.

Mustang screeched to a stop and rubbed his left side burn. "We probably should..." he agreed as his brother caught up with him. "But why are they at the beach for; Camry missed making dinner! Should we go find his boss? Oh wait, his work place closed two hours ago."

The two looked at each other with identical helpless expressions, undecided what to do. A plastic bag rolled across the quiet road in front of them as the wind blew, carrying a cry in the air.

_Huh?_ They thought simultaneously, hearing it.

"Nii-san, did you hear that?" Chuckie asked.

Mustang rubbed his neck. "Yeah, sounds like Anna-san from the pub."

"Woof," Ren barked.

They looked at each other again, and ran.

A moment later, they kicked open the door to Rose and Thorn, posed in fighting position to fend off whatever threat that might await-

Only to find the pub empty and in such catastrophe as they'd never seen it before. At their surprise arrival, Anna-san screamed, her eyes blazed with fear, then relaxed when she saw that it was her friends. She slowly let out a little cry as Mustang and Chuckie stared at the place, a stunned look on their face, then at her. By that time, she had resumed back to full tears.

"Who did this?" Mustang was the first to speak up. They had "solved problems" before for Anna-san and her father, but it had never been this bad. All the chairs and tables were smashed and broke, Alcohol pooled on various placed on the wooden floor, broken glass bottles littered everywhere, not a single good bottle left standing on the shelves.

Anna-san placed a hand on the counter and carefully helped herself up, still sobbing along the way, and motioned for them to come closer. "Help..." She hiccuped and cried some more. "Rose and Thorn... They're..."

Immediately, she collapsed back down as the two males rushed over at the mention of the worms. Rose and Thorn, named after Anna-san's dead grandmothers who started the pub together, were newborn Giant Man-Eating worms. They were sick when Anna-san first found them, lost without a guardian, and were very sickly still, and way smaller for their age.

Ren got there first. She slithered quickly up to her older but smaller worm friends and nudged their shivering bodies, cooing with heartfelt pain, and carefully licked both of their heads. "Woo..." she barked a soft bark, getting movements from their tails in response.

Their long, tube bodies were covered in cuts big and small. The peachy and pink skin tones of normal, healthy Giant Man-Eating worms were nowhere to be seen. Rose and Thorn were deathly pale and even a bit... blue. But what really caught all of their attention when they got there- besides the cuts- were dirty footsteps, as if they'd been stomped all over, and Thorn's slightly flattened tail.

"Who..." Mustang's face strained. "Who would do such a thing?"

But before she could answer, another person ran for the pub, shouting Mustang's name at the top of his frail old lung.

"It's Camry's boss?" the called man said.

"Ochipo-jisan?"

The old man stopped inside, out of breath, as his pet worm Sakura crawled down from his shoulder and headed for the gathering of worm as well. She and Ren began barking at each other, both licking their beaten friends, who could all but whimper back.

"What happened?" Ochipo asked the moment he caught his breath, then shook his old head. "Bad news, bad news Mustang, Chuckie-"

"Wait a minute," the older brother interrupted. "Do you know where Camry and Chevy are? We can't find them."

The old man frowned. "It's Camry's day off today," he said. "But that's not what's urgent." He placed two posters on the counter with trembling hands. "Pirates." He pointed at both posters. "These are pirates! They bought food at my restaurant today afternoon too! We're under attack!"

Mustang and Chuckie's faces went blank with shock as soon as they saw the posters.

"Forty... Forty-five million beri, and thirty-two million beri..." Mustang read the large sum, sweat dripping down from his forehead.

"Nii-san, those two are the weird circus people from this morning!"

"They're pirates?"

Anna-san gasped. "Those two were in here just now!" she said, recognizing Kidd and Killer.

"WHAT?" Mustang snarled with anger, not a trace of silliness was left on his usual cheerful, goofy face. He glare down at the pictures. "Those _bastards_ are the ones who did this?"

"What kind of monsters are they?" Chuckie exclaimed angrily. "Beating up a helpless girl, then harm innocent animals for fun? Nii-san! We can't let them get away with this!"

"Huh?" Anna-san wiped away the last of her tears and shook her head no at them. "But they aren't the ones who-"

Mustang didn't let her finish her corrections. "Don't worry! They won't leave this island human once we're done with them! C'mon Chuckie, we're going down to the beach to teach those sea scums a lesson. Ochipo-jisan, just tell Camry and Chevy where we are if you see them!"

"W- Wait a minu-!" Anna-san protested, but she was too late.


	27. Dealing With Barbarians

**Author's Note:** Thanks to_ Brass Gear Trollop, Msaju17, The Fluffy One, doriansburial, Eustasslaw, yumeniai,_ and _Allycat18 _for reviewing!

I don't know what to say about this chapter, except that I was utterly stumped for three days of what to write, then on the fourth day I went on a total writing frenzy. All in all, this chapter iss shorter than I'd liked. Unfortunately, my pig-minded brain refused to let me break the four-to-five-day-per-update rule. Anyway, STRONG WORLD is out and subbed on watch-onepiece dot com, and Nami was a total babe in it! If you haven't seen it yet, go see it now!

On the other hand, I found out the real meaning behind Alejandro by Lady Gaga... I love that woman. XD Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro...

* * *

"Damn it," Camry swore as time dragged on. He glared at the black-haired man on the sand, but otherwise was able to do nothing. "You can't keep us like this if you don't plan on killing us."

A cold night breeze traveled from the sea, gently swaying the sail on the pirate ship. Up underneath the Crow's Nest, a bright lantern lit the scene. A seagull flew overhead, squawking as if just to emphasize the silence.

"I think he might be sleeping," Chevy hypothesized after minutes. "He hasn't moved from his spot."

The older brother scoffed. "He's just pretending. Pirate scums love to play games; that's how they always do things if they don't kill people. We normal people are just fun and games to them- that's how inhuman they are!"

At this, Chevy frowned and eyed Hiroki, whose face was blank with closed eyes, wearily. "I know, but this guy seems pretty nice for a pirate. Shouldn't we leave him alone if he doesn't mean any harm?"

"Baka! Of course not!" the Mohawk man shouted at him.

"But what if his crewmates are more violent and really kill us. We can't even move, much less than fight back, Nii-san," Chevy reasoned. "We're better off-"

"Who the hell are they?"

The new voice stopped the debate dead in its track, and both brothers swallowed hard at the presence of two new people. Beads of sweat formed on their forehead, and Camry tried as hard as he could to turn so he could get a look at their soon-to-be enemies. He didn't need to for long; Kidd and Killer walked right in between them and headed for the shipwright on the ground. They stared at the black-haired man, then glanced at the two stilled captives who had been standing there unmoved since they got there, and got the picture.

Kidd scowled, while Killer marched right up to Hiroki and gave him a kick in the knee.

"Hm?" the shipwright's eyes snapped open, then closed again before standing up. "Sorry," he apologized. "I fell asleep."

_He..._ Camry's eyebrows twitched. "HOW DARE YOU FALL ASLEEP ON US!" he barked at the yawning man.

Ignoring the outburst from the strange Mohawk man, Kidd narrowed his eyes at Hiroki and folded his arms. "Who the hell are they?" he asked again.

"Ah," his shipwright answered and turned to look at the two shaken, but angry brothers. "Good question. I'll explain everything later. In the mean time, did you bring food. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning."

But Chevy cut in before they could go anywhere. "Please release us! We really mean no harm if you mean none either! My brother and I were just acting out of pure irrationality that you might attack our town-"

"Shut up, Chevy!" Camry snapped.

Even though the plead was interrupted, it had caught the attention of the pirates, and the three turned around, the captain and first mate staring at Hiroki. Chevy gulped as his older brother glared stubbornly. He gazed with fear at the new arrivals, undecided to be more scared of the murderous, devil-like redhead or the faceless masked man with scythes strapped by his sides who was giving off quite a glacial and intimidating aura. And of course, he'd already fought with the man in kimono to know what he was capable of.

_We can't win, Nii-san_, he thought, eyes darting towards Camry. _Just give it up for now!_

But his thought went unheard. "GIVE US ALL YOU GOT, PIRATE SCUMS!" the Mohawk man challenged.

"Why you-" the redhead began.

"Kidd," the masked man growled. "Not yet."

"Let's just leave them alone and I'll free them when you set, Sencho. There is no need to start anything when they can't even fight."

"Che," the captain scowled at the shipwright. "You're the one who brought these sorry bastards here in the first place, and you still owe us an explanation!"

"Well, that's-" Hiroki never got to finish his sentence as a bomb zoomed passed the pirates and hit the side of the ship, creating an explosion that left a huge hole. _Maria _rocked back and forth on the shallow shore as her crew narrowed their eyes. In front of them, the two paralyzed brothers' faces paled with realization, and grew even whiter as familiar cries of battle came closer with each passing second.

_BOOM!_ The second bomb came within inches of Kidd's face before he repelled it away.

"GO!"

"Take that you, fuckers!"

"WOOOOOH!" a creature howled in the distance.

_BOOM! BOOM!_ Killer diced one up and Kidd repelled another.

"Haha! Now you had a taste of the fury of the Chuck bros! Know us and know fear- What the..." Mustang stopped short as he arrived closer with Chuckie, who was swinging an iron bat, not far behind his older brother, and one growling Ren. The bazooka that Mustang had held over his shoulder hit the sand. "CAMRY! CHEVY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?"

"SHIT, THE PIRATES GOT YOU ALREADY? NO WONDER YOU DIDN'T COME HOME!" Chuckie shouted.

Feet away, Kidd stood up straighter. "It's that shrimp from this morning," he hissed.

"And the pedophile is still with him," said Killer.

"SHUT UP! I'M NOT A PEDOPHILE!"

And with that short comic relief over, Mustang picked up his bazooka from the sand and pointed the opening towards the pirate, his face completely serious.

"Enough playing around," he snapped, eyes glinting with rage behind his dark shades. " Eustass 'Captain' Kidd and 'Massacre Man' Killer, we've come for your sorry bounty heads! I'll blast you apart for what you pirates did to Anna-san's pub! Camry, Chevy get your asses moving and help us here!"

"We can't! We can't move," Chevy said, attempting to turn his neck.

At that, Mustang snarled and grasped the trigger. "Why you... Take this! Let's get 'em, Chuckie!"

Kidd glared with annoyance at the charging brothers and lifted up a hand tingling with electricity. Meanwhile, Killer sighed, took a bento out of the bag and disappeared up the ship. Hiroki watched the performance with mild interest before seating himself on the sand again, taking out the third bento with a set of chopsticks, and proceed eating. The explosions ensued were quite entertaining as Chuckie and Mustang attempted to hit their target, but always missing entirely due to his captain's Devil Fruit power.

"Oi!" Camry called out, catching his attention. "Why are you sitting there eating when my brothers are kicking your captain's ass? I knew it- your nakama's getting killed and all you do is watch! This is how heartless you pirates are!"

But before he could answer, Mustang screamed out in agony as his own bomb went off in his face.

"Who was kicking whose behind?" the shipwright asked as Kidd repelled the iron bat out of Chuckie's hands and threw the boy in the air. Hiroki watched with little concern as he landed about half a mile away from the current location, lifting up a salmon sushi with the chopstick to his mouth, and chewed calmly. "You were saying?"

"Damn- Damn it," Mustang gasped from his place, coughing.

"Nii-san!" Chevy cried. "Chuckie!"

Kidd glared at the backs of the two standing brothers in front of him. "You want to fight too?" he growled.

"Don't bully the weaker, Kidd-sama," Hiroki lectured, a sushi half way beyond his mouth. "Unless they absolutely piss you off."

"They _do_ piss me off!" the captain barked. "_You _piss me off too, so don't start, damn yakuza!" He turned his attention back toward the Mohawk and his brother and issued his terms, "Now, you either die, or surrender!"

"We'd rather die!" Camry declared proudly.

"NII-SAN, DON'T BE STUPID!"

The shipwright sighed as Kidd's face hardened and activated his power again. "It can't be helped, can it?"

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!" "-No, Anna-san! You can't go there!"

Everybody froze as the young woman from the pub came running towards them with Chuckie panting by her side, obviously trying to drag her away but had little success. Kidd sneered at her disheveled appearance as she came to a stop, breathing heavily. _What the hell is it this time?_

"So- Sorry!" she apologized, bowing in front of Kidd. "It was a misunderstanding. Please don't kill them, I'll pay for all damages if you want me to, but please don't kill them! They didn't know what happened."

"Anna-san!" Mustang gasped and sat up. "Get away from them, we'll take care of this!"

"No," she shouted back, shaking her head. "They weren't the ones who destroy my pub, it was someone else!"

Ten minutes, plenty of shouting and swearing, and one long explanation later resulted in a rather ticked Kidd, two apologetic looking brothers- Mustang and Chuckie-, a sorrowful Anna-san and a grim Hiroki who did a good job hiding his grimness and looked very collected.

"So please forgive them," Anna-san begged, her hands clasping together on her lap, staring at the ground. "They rushed into things too quickly. That's just the way they are."

"Hmph," the redhead merely responded unpleasantly.

"Don't 'hmph' at a lady, you barbarian!" Camry shouted.

Kidd held up a knuckle and sneered. "You have a death wish, Mohawk?"

Anna-san immediately stepped in front of Camry and bowed again. "Please forgive him!"

"Now, now." Hiroki's composed voice interrupted the would be fight. Everybody looked over at him as he stood up. "There will be no killing of the islanders, Sencho, or have you forgotten what Killer-san told us?" Kidd scowled at him for this as he turned to speak to the woman. "We were about to release them anyway. As long as they don't inflict any harm upon us, we see no reason to do away with anyone here. Isn't that right, Camry-san?"

"Do not '-san' me!" the stubborn man shouted. He was ignored.

"We can agree on that, yes?"

"Of course," Anna-san quickly replied.

"As long as you don't attack us," Mustang huffed, and Chuckie nodded with agreement behind him.

They turned to Kidd, who scowled, once more, at everyone. "Just get them out of my sight," he snapped.

Hiroki smiled and walked over to Camry and Chevy. "Good to know that we're on the same page-" "-I can't believe that we're making deals with pirates-" "Now, please be very careful and move slowly when I release you," he continued. "Since you've been standing in your poses for quite a few hours," He tapped a point at the side of their necks, "I daresay that-"

"OUCH!" they screamed simultaneously the moment that they tried to move away, and both wobbled and collapsed.

"...You might experience painful muscle spasms," the shipwright finished.

"Idiots," everyone else muttered.

They stared at the two on the ground wearily. Now what?

"Oi," Chuckie suddenly spoke up, looking alarmed. "Where Ren?"

Mustang frowned. "She was following us, wasn't she?"

_Why the hell are they worrying about a damn worm for?_ Kidd sneered as they began panicking over their missing pet. Then again, where was that thing anyway. It couldn't have escaped off the beach without their noticing, being so large, and it certainly couldn't have dug some sort of hole. Funny, he could swear that he saw the creature slithering pass him for the ship...

At the same time, Killer's voice rang from the deck above, "What the hell is this worm doing here!"

The people on the beach froze as a slurping sound occurred, and blinked at each other.

"Slimy, disgusting-" Another slurp, following by panting noises and occasional purring. "...If you lick me one more time I would-"

_SLURP!_ Kidd could practically hear the saliva dripping.

Coldness washed through the air instantly, and all was silent. Even Ren stopped her clamor-making, sensing that something was wrong. Indeed, something went very wrong for her; seconds later, she was sent flying into the sky. A squeal much resembling a pig's followed her path.

* * *

Plundering ships of other pirates had proven to be the ultimate success, Carter could tell you that.

Before his current occupation as a pirate captain, he participated in many other forms of crime; the smuggling of illegal goods, joining guilds of bounty hunters, start gangs, even as far as dealing with and becoming a mountain bandit. Yet, he continued to live the life of the lowly, homeless trash who could barely scrap up the smallest nugget of gold in his pocket. His wallet was constantly empty, that was, until he decided to quit everything and became a pirate.

Now there was something you had to know- he did not want to become a pirate to be chased down by the marines or bounty hunters. This crew, no matter what he'd told his men, was but temporary until he could stack up enough money to escape and live a happily ever after life filled with women and booze. Therefore, he could not become a wanted man. So Carter settled for the only option available- attack pirates ships, dodge marine eyes, and leave big cities alone and only target small out-of-the-way villages and towns that the navy would not bother to send help to.

In his definition, Campbell Float was perfect.

By the time that he and his men had left that sorry excuse for a pub, a plan had already begun devising itself in his head. When he arrived back to his ship, it was nearly completed- the only thing that was left to take care of was the role of those pesky Giant Man-Eating worms that might prove to be a danger to his plan.

However, he never got the chance to figure the puzzle out.

"What is this?" he demanded, seeing the two guards whom he'd left on the ground, down and out cold. He struck one in the gut to wake the poor bastard up.

Said poor bastard rolled four times, slammed against the rail, and woke up. He clutched in side and winced in pain, only to has that minor concern completely banished from his mind at the sight of his enraged captain and his crew looming over him. His scream woke his comrade. Both stumbled and crashed into each other in their hysteria.

"So- I'm sorry, Sencho!" one shrieked, trying to scramble away.

Carter took a step closer, making the effort useless. "What the hell happened while I was gone!" He snarled, taking out a dagger from his side. "Where are the cannons?"

"No, no! It was a demon, a _demon!_" they cried together.

"Hm?" the angry captain narrowed his eyes. "What demon?"

"There was a demon! We were attacked my a demon!"

"It wasn't our fault!"

"He was merciless!" they went on, shaking in their boots. "A demon, Captain Carter! We have to run for our lives!"

Seeing that this was getting nowhere, Carter threw the knife at them, missing by inches and swung a kick at their heads. Their skulls smashed together, and their nonsenses stopped.

"No- No..." one of them whimpered through blood and broken teeth. "It- It wasn't a demon. It was man... A pirate,.."

"...He attacked us by surprise while we were guarding the ship," the other explained, whimpering as well, tears running down his face "With... black kimono and dead eyes. He beat us up and took our cannons."

"Dead eyes?" Carter growled. "Another pirate crew?"

* * *

"Why the hell aren't they gone yet?" Kidd snapped, eying the two on the bed with uttermost distaste. "I never give permission for you to bring anyone else onto the ship, Hiroki!"

"Shut up, baka," Killer said. "Or I'll make_ you_ carry them to a town doctor."

And with that, the redhead could do nothing but... Was he pouting? Never mind, the masked man sighed wistfully.

On the bed, Camry and Chevy lay still on their stomachs, naked from waists up, looking very nervous and distrusting of their surrounding, even though Mustang, Chuckie, Anna-san and Ren (who was told to stay as far away from Killer as possible, much to her unhappiness and the masked man's relief) were all in the room, fully ready to stop, or at least try, if the pirates decide to pull any tricks. They paid special attention to the shipwright, the only person who was doing anything at the moment- cleaning needles.

"...What are you going to do to us?" Chevy asked. The sight of those sharp pins unnerved him.

"Oh, nothing horrible. It's very simple, really," Hiroki answered, rubbing clean of the last one and held it up under the lightbulb. The sharp end shone. "I'm merely going to perform some acupuncture on the strained muscles."

Chevy turned white.

"NO!" he started to scream, struggling to get up on the bed. "NO! I DON'T WANT ACUPUNCTURE!"

"Don't worry, I just sterilized these so there should be no bacteria."

"That's not it," Mustang informed as the scream of "NO!"s continued in the background. "Chevy's deathly afraid of needles."

"NO ACUPUNCTURE!" The struggle was futile. "A DOCTOR ISN'T SUPPOSE TO OPERATE ON THE PATIENT WITHOUT PERMISSION!"

"But I'm not a doctor," Hiroki said, advancing towards him with the sharp needle. Intended or not, he smiled sadistically at Chevy. "However, if it makes you feel any better, I am a yet certified first class acupuncturist."

The reassurance did not serve its purpose to soothe the traumatized teen, who was trying to get away from the man more than ever, wailing on the top of his lungs, "NO! DON'T LET HIM DO THIS! HE'S NOT CERTIFIED! HE'S NOT-" The needle punctured his skin, and he fainted.

"What a baby," Kidd commented as the shipwright finished with the younger and moved on to Camry, who lay still through the whole process unflinching.

"Trypanophobia is very common," Hiroki reasoned, digging into the Mohawk's back the last one. Behind him, Chuckie nodded and Ren barked with agreement. "There, relax and sleep for the night and you should be all right in the morning." Camry answered this with an unhappy grunt.

"Now we got that over with," Mustang said with a sigh. "Anna-san, how's Rose and Thorn?"

The woman smiled at him. "They're fine now. Ochipo-jisan took them to the vet for me," she said, then her smile faded. "Though, I'll have to visit my father tomorrow and tell him about the pub..."

"Don't worry." He gave her his trademark pedophile grin and a thumb up. "We can help you rebuild and modify!"

"Really?" She smiled once again. "Thank you!"

"Speaking of modifications," Killer interrupted. "Where did you get the new cannons, Hiroki? The iron below the deck are still in the same shape from this morning, and I saw no large factory nor shopon this island that can produce twenty-some cannons this fast or at a cheap price."

"Ah, that's-"

And as if on cue, a voice said from the outside, "There's the ship of the other pirate crew that Carter-sama was talking about! No doubt in there is the bastard who stole our cannons!"


	28. The Evils of Innocence

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Allycat18, Doriansburial, Msaju17_ and _yumeniai_ for reviewing! Sorry for the late update. There were a few... issues.

Ah, Chapter 594, how you spoke to me...

Well, truth to be told, I almost cried reading the newest chapter, and probably would cry even more if my biggest fear for this story actually comes true, and that is Kidd getting his own arc with Luffy in the real series before I catch up with canon. The second being Kidd's personality; I mean, it's undeniable that he's a dickhead, but he turned out to be meaner than I thought ("meaner" being a mild adjective). Strapping bodies onto crosses and impaling them while laughing like a maniac high on crack and caffeine at the same time? Oda-sensei had me stumped there for a moment. Not to mention the fact that Kidd was reading quite well for the dumbass I made him out to be... Hehe...

Not to worry, I got my plot to work with canon more or less. My Kidd will catch up with canon-Kidd soon enough. Meanwhile, why don't you enjoy reading about this innocent darling whose purity has yet been tainted, and I'll work on corrupting his poor soul... XD

Gosh, re-reading this chapter, I made him _too_ innocent. O_O Nevahmind.

As a reminder, this _is_ an AU fic, and I _do_ plan on catching up to Oda-sensei. And yes, KiddxKiller is still coming along. Just. You. Wait. *Points finger at readers, walks away backwards dramatically*

*Runs into a telephone pole, faints*

**Lime warning!** This chapter contains a slight M-rated material, if you know what I mean. Though, it's very light and it's not even between Kidd and Killer, so it doesn't count as one of the three Lemons. And on another note, there IS a reason why I only write three of these things... (Hint: I am a terrible porno author). Read at your own risk.

* * *

The room went silent.

Clanking of metal grippers hooking onto the rail could be heard along with the creaking of the invaders climbing their rope latter, and pretty soon footsteps thundering on the decks. In her corner, Anna-san paled while she clutched onto a blank-faced Chuckie, who was looking at his oldest brother, who was about to say something, but closed his gaping mouth. To Hiroki's right, his captain's face had morphed into pure irritation, and the redhead finally turned to glare at him.

"What the hell is up with you robbing other people's ship?" Kidd growled.

"We do need the cannons," he reasoned calmly as the shouts from outside drew closer; the enemy pirates had probably spot the single light lit amongst the windows. "And you did say that you were bored. Besides, I'm a pirate, so robbing other ships is acceptable."

"That's hardly the point here," Killer said for Kidd, who was beginning to radiate off a murderous aura and too angry to find the words to express himself.

"You bastard..." the captain hissed as the invaders' voices came up the stairs outside and onto the second floor, approaching their door, snickering something along the lines of "Hahaha! We found that poor bastard! He's unlucky to have messed with us!."

And without warning, Kidd kicked said doors into splinters and stormed outside.

Then, there were some loud swearing- to which Anna-san covered Chuckie's ears for, much to his annoyance-, screaming, metal blades clashing against each other, pistols firing, bones breaking, and about two minutes later, sounds of heavy things being thrown into the sea followed by absolute silence. By then, the only woman in the room was as white as sheets, while Hiroki gazed at the broken door most unhappily.

"Oi!" Kidd yelled from below. "Now _you_ clean up the spilled brains and the blood!"

Anna-san turned green and fainted.

* * *

In the morning, the bloody decks were cleaned and their "visitors" were all prepared to leave.

Chevy ran away from Hiroki the first chance he got; he raced out the room, tripped, rolled down the stairs, scrambled across the deck and jumped off the ship. Mustang, who did not sleep the whole night, being constantly cautious of the pirates, were yawning his ass off by the break of dawn. Camry gave the three a glare before hopping off the ship, escorting a horrified Anna-san who looked all too relief to be leaving, and Chuckie was busy trying to pry Ren from Killer's side, which wasn't that hard to do, for the masked man made his job easy by kicking the worm off himself.

"This better be the last I see of them bastards," Kidd muttered to himself as they disappeared beyond his horizon.

"As long as we leave the town folks alone, that won't be hard to accomplish," Hiroki said. "Though, I do find those worms strange; I _was_ kidding about them existing before. Made them up on the spot, in fact..."

"Shut up," Killer snapped.

* * *

Things remained calm for the people of Campbell Float that day.

Rose and Thorn was closed for repairing purposes, and Anna-san had explained to concerned customers and friends of yesterday's incident. They listened to her, nodded their heads and went on their daily lives. Pirates? Sure, let them attack again. This was hardly the first time that they had to deal with pirates. It was a good thing that no one was killed though, they'd say to her. Yes, it was a good thing, she'd reply, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the hospital by the bed of her sick father, who was all but worried about the repairing bills later on top of hospital bills.

Mustang and Chevy helped with the repairs. Camry returned to work, and managed to reassure Ochipo-jisan that the pirates from yesterday were not planning to raid the town, and even if they did plan so, he would take his boomerangs and beat the shit out of them if they dare try. Chuckie took care of the two wounded worms for his friends, thus spending the entire day at the vet, eating peppermint candies until his stomach began to hurt.

Soon, it was dinner time.

Inside the house of Chucks, the young boy stood on his tiptoe and peered over the boiling pot, resisting the foggy steam and sniffed up a lungful of the delicious aroma before drooling. Curry, carrots, and a bit of broccoli thrown. Camry was indeed the best cook in the whole world- he was the only person who could make vegetable not taste gross, and that was by not making them taste like vegetable at all.

And just as he finished thinking the compliment, said brother picked him up by the back of the shirt and hurled him out of the kitchen. "Don't even think about stealing food, little runt!" he barked as Chuckie crashed into a wall, knocked down a picture, bounced trice and sat up pouting.

"I wasn't stealing!" he defended himself, scowling. "And you're the one with that secret stash of chocolate cake, Camry, you big hypocrite!" With that, he got up, blew a raspberry towards the kitchen, dusted his little bottom and picked up the dropped picture.

The picture... Chuckie sighed as he stare at the faded photograph within the wooden frame. It was, in fact, the only picture in the house.

His lips drooped at the sight of the blond Afro woman who was smiling and leaning against the chest of an older man with similar blond-colored hair and two odd tattoos on his face- one under his eye, the other at the tip of his chin. By their sides stood two boys- Mustang in his teens, Camry barely ten, and Chevy was but a toddler in the woman's arms. The man was holding one of Camry's hand, trying to keep his second son in the picture with a lively grin on his face as his wife grasped one of Mustang's hands, but obviously not successful at keeping the oldest in place, because Mustang still managed to flip the bird at the cameraman that exact moment, and looking mighty proud as he did so.

He wasn't in the picture with his family, but Chuckie didn't really mind.

Although he loved his mother who died giving birth to him she was never in his life, so he never cared for her as much as his older brothers had.

The earliest memory of his father was the man desperately yanking a rubber ducky from his mouth when he tried to eat it. He remembered laughing, clapping his hands and pointing fingers as the backlash of force reeled his father backwards and sent him stumbling on the bathroom floor, finally hitting his head on the toilet seat.

But despite all that, those thoughts weren't the ones on his mind right now.

No, it was the one thought that'd always came to him whenever he looked at his father's face. His father, while grinning, held a distant look in his eyes in the picture, as if he felt like he should be somewhere else doing something else. It was the look of a lost man.

When younger, Chuckie paid zero heed to that detail. Because of the death of their parents, his older brother made sure that he knew their mother and father, constantly telling him stories about the couple to the point of him feeling as if they were still alive and with him some times. One stuck out to him, and that was the story of how Mom met Dad.

Right now, he was looking at his father's eyes, remembering the pirates from yesterday and remembering the story.

The little boy took the photo and re-entered the kitchen once more. Camry glanced at him from the stove and raised an eyebrow. "What's with the long face now? Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. If you're mad about that little throw, I'll save a little extra for you-"

"Nii-san," he interrupted, and looked down at the picture once more.

Camry, too, looked and frowned. "What?"

He took a deep breath."Was Dad really a pirate?"

The stirring stopped.

"This isn't the first time that you've asked us this, Chuckie. But we already told you before, didn't we. Of course not, he _can't_ be," the Mohawk man said firmly after moments of heavy silence. "You saw all those pirates we fought before- they're a bunch of no good, bloodthirsty, money-loving murderers who kill children and women without mercy. Dad _can't_ be one of them!"

"But, the circus pirates we met aren't really that mean, so they can't all be bad people," he said. "What about how Mom found Dad on a ship? Ochipo-jisan told me that it was flying a pirate flag too." Camry's face turned dark as he went on. "And what about the man that Dad had wanted to find? What about La-"

"Chuckie," Camry scolded sternly. "You're letting those pirates getting into your head? They haven't done a thing nice! For all we know, they could be plotting kill us and take our valuables just like the rest of them tried too! Dad _fought _against pirates- he died by their hands! We all know that!"

"But Dad had wanted to set sail when he got better, didn't he? And the only reason he held back was because Mom didn't want him to, and because of us."

Camry's fists clenched. "So he's an adventurer, so what? Just because he sailed a ship doesn't make him a pirate!"

"But why else would he have kept insisting if he didn't have a purpose when he couldn't remember a thing?" the younger rebutted. "And you guys told me about the guy that he wanted to find. Didn't you say that Dad made you guys promise him to find that man when I grow older?"

"So what?" The Mohawk let out a long sigh and shook his head. "So what if he did? We don't even know who that person is! And if so, is that person still alive, waiting for Dad? He could've forgotten all about him for all we know." He looked at his younger brother's face. "What are you trying to get to, Chuckie?"

The boy's hand clenched around the frame. "I was just thinking," he said. "That maybe we should find him for Dad's sake.

Camry shook his head again. "Not in a million years. I told you, this sea is too dangerous for us and he could be anywhere. We'd get killed, if not by the water itself, some band of murderers will bound to take us out."

"But _they're_ strong."

A frown. "Who?"

"Them." Chuckie could not look at him. "The circus pirates."

Few wordless moments passed. Then... "Pirates? You think we can join that pirate crew and become like those assholes who murdered Dad?"

Chuckie whispered, "But they seems pretty nice."

"And how long does it take for apples to go rotten? Not very long!" Camry bent down and gripped him by the shoulder. "They killed people, Chuckie. Playing pirates and real pirates are different! 'Mass murdering of innocent civilians,' did you read that part? Even if they are nice now, they won't be later! And what makes you think that they'd give two shits about Dad's promise? They don't!"

By the time the curry was done, the picture was hung back on the wall.

* * *

_CHOP!_ A deafening, inhuman, anguish howl filled the night air, and seconds later, the loud thump of a large body fell dead shook the ship. The men all moved closer with caution, looking at each other, eyes full of wonder and fear. Hands twitched to touch it, but all kept their limbs at their sides for the fear of possible poisoning.

Finally, their captain nodded his head towards one of them, and the excluded man ran up to the body, pried apart the thick muscles and dragged out a long intestine for all to see. He cut the intestine apart and lay it out on the deck.

"Dirt, wood... the digestion acid seems to be quite acidic, but only for a few selective things," the man reported. "And we know that this species doesn't regenerate like normal worms do."

"No meat?" Carter questioned.

"...There appears to be none. This creature is a herbivore," he said.

The captain humphed and lean back on his seat, staring at the pieces of the Giant Man-Eating worms in front of him. "What a fucking waste," he drawled. "You'd think they'd be ferocious predators by their sharp teeth!"

The rest looked at each other, not knowing what to say all the while watching their leader's expression, which was going from a scowl to a wrinkled, displeased face, and finally a smirk. Carter got up from his seat and walked over to the segmented body himself, looking at the oozing acid from the intestines and the white plasma dripping from the peach-pink flesh to the long tongue and the rows of sharp teeth.

He lifted up a finger and pointed at a random person in the crowd. "You," he said, startling the man. "Yes, you! If you were to buy this creature, how much will you take it alive?"

"Buy- Buy this?" He glanced nervously at the unmoving head of the unfortunate worm.

"Yes," Carter said, and opened his arms, gesturing at it. "For something this exotic and such grand size, if I were to sell it to a noble, to any rich man, or to _you,_ how much do you think it'd fetch? As pet, as meat for a dinner, as an exhibited animal?"

"500,000 beri, possibly," the man answered.

Carter closed his hands, dropping his outstretched arms to his side. A delirious glint now shone in his eyes. "Good. A reasonable amount." He returned near his chair and walked around the furniture twice, pacing in thought. His crew watched him, waiting for commands. About twenty minutes later, he stopped and faced them, grinning wickedly.

"At the crack of dawn, we will plunder this island," he began. "Except this time, we will sail away with a new product for sale! Kill the men, Kidnap the children! Have your ways with the women as you like! But each of you will bring each and every single worm on this island by the time our Log Pose set!"

He laughed as his men roared back with approval and sank onto his chair, feeling better than he did half an hour ago. The original plan of using these worms as a secret army could no way be accomplished, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be any use at all. Why, if one could make him 500,000 beri, just thinking about the amount he'd get from the entire island's worth made his head spin with glee and heart soar.

Wonderful, simply wonderful! This pathetic excuse of an island was good for something, at least.

"Eh?" he suddenly called out in the mist of celebration, recalling a forgotten matter. "What happened to the squad I sent to take care of the thief? How come they're not back yet?"

* * *

Kidd woke from a dream, sat up on the bed, and stared blankly into the dark. His hands gripped the bed sheet tightly for minutes before his eyes wandered towards the opened window of vanishing stars and moon. It was near dawn, and the sun was already peaking over the horizon. With the dream still in mind, the redhead forced himself out of bed, and left the ship for a walk.

Walking for mere fun would usually be seen as nonsense by Eustass Kidd. One shouldn't have to move his feet for nothing. However, right now he need to think, and he needed to keep his feet shuffling and give his body some movement to occupy itself.

He needed to think about what had just happened, that dream.

Was it some form of a bad nightmare?

The dream was somehow foreign and familiar to Kidd at the same time. Foreign as in he'd never had this happen before. Familiar, like he expected it and knew about it, but when he tried to recall why, he couldn't.

In the dream, he was on a bed, naked, though he had no idea why. His body felt hot and there was a pounding sensation that raced his heart, a constant surge of desire. There was a hunger like he'd never experienced before, yet it wasn't for food, but for the simple need to... touch. But to touch what?

What made this all too scary to him was that there was someone else in the bed with him, also naked. The surrounding was dark, so he couldn't tell who. Was the person even someone he knew? Their bodies were tangled together, and the air filled with loud panting and slick movements. He didn't know what they were doing- what he was doing but that it was pleasurable and strange.

His racing heart woke him up. Dripped in sweat, he felt rather stuffy and uncomfortable in his clothes. His groin was throbbing and he felt the same urge to just touch... But he stopped himself before he could, fighting the crave and the need. Touching yourself there? How absurd! Who would do that? He never had to before, he never saw anyone doing it to themselves either, and nobody told him that he should. It'd probably go away.

Several minutes into the walk, it had.

Kidd was positive that he knew what the word was, but right now, it wouldn't come to mind.

_What the hell? So many weird things happened to me since I became a pirate; I'm a damn Hammer now, I'm labeled as a mass murderer, my voice cracked and it still hasn't gone away and now I'm dreaming about being naked with someone else? ...Am I sick?_ he thought, displeased by any idea of contacting a disease. They didn't have a doctor- and no, that shipwright bastard of theirs didn't count. He was not about to die before becoming the Pirate King! _Not likely though, I haven't been sick in years. _

_Maybe it's a pirate-thing?_

No, he definitely knew something about this, he was sure of it...

"Che," Kidd eventually muttered out loud to himself, frustrated with trying to figure out the mystery. "Who cares! It's probably a dream about something really stupid!" With that settled in mind, he proceeded his walk in the wood.

Noises from the distance caught his attention, and he turned towards it, frowning. There was smoke trailing up from below. Interested in what could be happening, he began heading quickly down the mountain for the town. Now, after a while, he could make out fire dancing in the air, and the smell was obvious. What was even more obvious, however, was the clamorous screaming and crying of both human and those mutated worms.

"A fight?" He headed closer.

One step, two step, a snap of branch.

_Hm?_ His eyes widened and looked down the same moment a rope wrapped itself around his ankle. "What the HELL?" The next moment, he was being dangled upside down by his right foot.

"What the _fucking_ hell?" he snarled angrily after getting over the shock, waving his arms trying to touch the ground with his hands, but not even managing to brush the dirt with his fingertips. "Who is the bastard that set this stupid trap here!"

In town, Chevy blocked an attack from one of Carter's henchmen, and sneezed in the man's face.

Back in the forest, Kidd thrashed wildly in midair with rage, trying to free himself. Minutes passed before he heard voices down below. His ears perked up, wondering if one of his nakamas had decided to search for him or not.

Either way, it didn't matter, he thought to himself after a while, but if it was Killer, his power should work on those scythes.

He held out a hand towards the direction of the voices.

"Oi, what's with our swords?"

_So it's not him, then._ The redhead scowled, stopping his power at once. He was getting slightly dizzy from being hung like this. _Damn it, now what?_

"Look! There's something up ahead."

"A worm?"

"No, it's a person."

The blood rushing to his head wasn't doing good for his senses, and soon, Kidd found himself being surrounded by a group of thug-like brutes.

"Well, well, well," someone said suddenly. The tiny circle of five chuckled, flustering his nerves. "What do we have here?"

"Hmph, should we really bother with him? We're here to look for wild worms, ya know?"

"I'm trapped," Kidd growled at them. "Cut the rope and maybe I won't kill you."

"Oi, oi, everybody, isn't this little guy the so-called pirate from the bar two days ago? Ehehe!" another pointed out, sounding quite amused. "Remember, mate? He's that idiot who wants to be the King of Pirates! Ahahaha!" The redhead turned his head as far up as he could to glare at the sorry fucker when he sight of the dagger tucked in the belt. The glare turned to a grin. "How about we-" Said fucker didn't get to finish.

In a second, Kidd had snatched the blade away, cut himself free, and plunged it at the man's chest.

The faces of the other men went from amusement to bewilderment, and they all quickly took out their weapons. Their single prey stabilized himself on the sloped ground, rubbing his temple to smooth the remaining headache. "Get out of my way," he snapped.

"Watch it, twerp!" one demanded, threatening him with a katana. "Don't mess with us! We're pirates!"

The redhead glared at him. "'Twerp'? Who the hell do you think _you_ are?" he slurred.

"You got a death wish?"

"That's my line!" He sneered. "Guns and swords? Ha! You don't stand a chance against me."

"Get him!"

They lunged, and he kicked and punched, occasionally repelling the weapons out of their grasp with his power, but even that was unnecessary, he found out.

Were they in the same crew as those sorry assholes from two nights ago? Probably, he decided, dodging a swing of a sword as he grabbed the man by the wrist, snapped the joints and breaking the bones, rendering that hand useless.

If he heard that dagger-guy correctly, they were also the men of that Carter-asshole-

"Take this!" _Bam!_

The back of his skull throbbed with pain, and everything went black.

The men gathered slowly around him, edgy and jumpy.

"What the hell is with this brat?" one muttered.

"Good thing I bought a club with me," said the one who'd knocked Kidd out. "Should we take him to Sencho?"

They glanced nervously at each other, not daring to move until, finally, somebody smirked. The rest immediately joined in. "Of course, if he can fetch a price on the market, we'd be rewarded!"


	29. Kidnappers

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17, Allycat18, Brass Gear Trollop, yumeniai, ChibiFluffy_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing!

Just wondering, since some of your reviews brought up puberty... Luffy hasn't hit it yet, has he? XD

And to comment on the newest chapter (spoiler alert!); Holy Hell, Oda-sensei, why did you have to take out Bonney too? I honestly thought the Supernova that Blackbeard got was going to be Capone because of how his ship was being sucked up by something in chapter 594, but I guess not. Damn, does that mean Bonney isn't going to get any screen time after this?

A big shout out goes to one wonderful doriansburial, who drew a comic for the Jolly Roger scene in chapter twenty-five! Thank you so much, I love it! Here's a link if anyone's interested in seeing it (No, in fact, all of you go see it NAO!): http :/ / doriansburial. Deviantart. com / # / d2vnwml

Just remove the spaces, or, if you're too lazy, I have a hyperlink posted on my profile under Stories' Side Notes labelled "Skull Joke?" :D

* * *

"Psss..."

Mustang's eyebrows twitched in his sleep, and he flipped side in his hammock, swatting at the air. "Five more minutes..." he muttered.

"Oi, Aniki, it's me."

"Mmm," the oldest of the brothers hummed and snored. "Hammer those tacks over by the trees... I know about your secret chocolate cake stash under the oven, Camry..."

"Wake up, Aniki!" Chuckie whispered loudly for the third time, leaning over the hammock and shaking Mustang by the shoulders. "I have to talk to you 'bout something."

One eye creaked open by the final snort, slowly closed once again, and snapped wide. Mustang shot up, looking to his left and right in panic, and finally spotting his little brother by his side with arms crossed with impatience. He sighed and yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What's the big idea?" he muttered. "Don't tell me you started shitting your pants again-"

"Shut up, thumb-sucker!" Chuckie barked.

"Damn you..." Mustang grumbled. "It's barely two in the morning, you brat. What's with the long face?"

"Shut up and listen!" Then getting serious he said, "This is about Dad."

The rubbing stopped. In the dark, he saw Mustang frowning. "What about Dad?" Then the frown changed into a tiresome scowl the very next moment as realization dawned. "...Is it about _that_ again?"

"...What if it is?"

Mustang stared at him and yawned again. "Go to sleep, Chuckie. I answered it the last time you dragged me into it; nothing's going to change."

"You know," the younger huffed angrily. "I talk about this to you because other than me, you're the one who took his death the lightest-"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean!" Chuckie snapped under his brother's pointy stare.

Mustang cringed and shook his head. "You talked to Camry about joining pirates again, haven't you? We all know better to start on that again- remember the first time? You tried to join that crew, and they ended up holding you hostage for money. We only managed to get you back scotch-free because Chevy stole their Log Pose... Just because they seem nice on the surface don't mean they are, Chuckie."

"That's not my point at all!" Chuckie retorted with a red face, glaring at the floor. "I... You..." He shook his head and started over again. "Look, I know that we beat pirates and all, but we don't really hate them like Camry-niisan think we do- he's the only one out of us four who overreacted. It's all because Dad died that we blame stuff on them.

"Besides, like I said, out of all of us, we took Dad's death the least to heart; you were twenty- old enough to take care of us- and I was two- too young to care. Camry was sixteen so he saw Dad as a need, and Chevy was old enough to care and knew, but doesn't know how to react. So to keep everyone together, we just did the only thing there is to do- fight pirates like Dad used to and protect the island.

"But Dad had wanted to find someone, right? And the only reason he didn't go out to sea is because Mom kept having us, and he wasn't willing to leave the family. When he died, he made you promise to find that person when I grew old enough, isn't that what you told me?"

Mustang snorted. "And Camry ended up giving me a good beating for it too," he grumbled.

"My point is not all pirates are bad, and our only reason for not setting sail like Dad had wanted to is because we think we're too weak for Grand Line, not because we hate anyone!"

"Even so, you're still nine-"

A chilling howl rang through the entire town, cutting mustang in mid-sentence. They froze, bodily alerted for whatever danger. Downstairs, Ren began viciously barking, and soon, her bark was followed by hundred of others.

Camry rolled himself off his sofa, and Chevy sat up from his bed, eyes wide and awake. At his spot beside his oldest brother's bed, Chuckie winced and cursed silently to himself. Of course, they were listening, weren't they? There was an enraged look on Camry's face, and Chevy's was emotionless as he dressed.

Just then. Ren burst through the door, barking at them before slithering back out and down the stairs.

"Pirate attack?"

The youngest boy clenched his fists as the Kidd pirates flashed through his mind. _It's not them, is it?_

"Let's go!"

Dejected, Chuckie raced to get his iron bat by his bed and raced out of the room, tailing his brothers.

A hand suddenly placed itself on his shoulder just before they ran out of the house. He looked down, and saw Camry gazing down at him sternly. He gulped.

"We'll talk afterwards."

* * *

"Go, Miss Muffins!" an old woman shouted from the door of a retirement home, waving her cane back and forth in the air.

"GET 'EM PIRATES, LIZZIE!"

"TOSS TO THE RIGHT, AMBER, YOU'RE GOING TO HIT A HOUSE THE OTHER WAY!"

"No, Shara, you're too small to fight. Take her back to her room, dear." "Woof!" a tiny worm of two weeks old barked in protest as her owner's wife took hold of her and carried her back to her sleeping basket. The man kissed his wife, grabbed his axe and ran outside to join the oppression.

All around town, able-bodied men and women fought along side of their worms, who made all this easier by simply lifting the enemies into the air and tossing them a good mile or two away, where they'd either die of fright or broken bone, or be so heavily injured that crawling back wasn't even an option. The people of Campbell Float was beginning to make Carter regret ever attack the town, especially since they weren't able to bring out cannons so far away from the ship.

_Damn it_! The pirate captain cursed as he watched a monstrous worm plowing through five of his men at once, sending them flying in different directions. What was more- the people weren't horrible fighter either; he hadn't expected that of normal citizens. There was a pervert carrying a bazooka, a Mohawk swinging two boomerangs, and plenty, plenty more.

"Hurry up! Load those worms onto the ship!" he screamed desperately at the two underlings who were lucky enough to capture a worm.

"HAI!"

Just then, something struck his legs, and he cried out in pain and fell onto his knees, his hands scrambled for his sword and grasped it just in time to meet the weapon that was going to crash his skull in. The battle cry of the attacker stopped as steel met iron, and he knocked the boy back, standing up wobbling, pointing the sword at Chuckie's throat.

"A little kid too?" he sneered after moment as scanning him up and down. "What's a brat like you doing here with an iron bat?"

Chuckie grimaced; he had hoped to take out the captain first- the crew members would be a piece of cake without a leader-, but it seemed like his plan was fouled.

The boy slowly scrambled backwards, trying to get a good distance between him and the pirates before running away, only to have Carter snatching him up by the collar and wrenching his bat out of his hands. He screamed and struggled against the hold.

"NII-SANS! HELP ME- Oof!"

"New order!" Carter commanded. "Get the gasoline and the matches ready! Forget the worms for now- we're targeting their children! Kidnap the children when they run out of the houses!"

* * *

Chevy was feeling pretty good about himself when he was suddenly drenched head to toe with oil. He slipped onto the ground and hit face-first into a puddle of gasoline. Coughing and sputtering, the third-oldest brother raised his head just in time to see his surrounding going up in flame.

His hands clenched. _You got to be kidding me!_

Damn pirates! He should trust them to scoop this low!

"What the...?"

"Get out, everyone! Get out!"

"We need water!"

He picked up his sword and resumed fighting.

Something was wrong. The enemies were beginning to thin out, but he couldn't see a thing- the smoke stung his eyes, making them water, and clogged his nose. After a few minutes, he was reduced to blindly swing his weapons left and right because his vision was so blurred. His senses went haywire as screaming and crying filled the air.

Chevy closed his burning eyes and ran to find a shelter, finally having a bucket of water dumped on him.

He coughed and spat, rubbing his eyes with a wet hand.

"Oi, Chevy, open your eyes!"

He did, to a sight of people running back and forth with water buckets and hoes.

"Shit," he muttered. "We got the pirates?"

"They retreated," Mustang answered. "We didn't think they'd have gasoline. They're probably up by the beach now." He looked around. "Where's Camry?"

"I'm here!" the Mohawk jogged passed them with two buckets of water. "Don't just stand there, help us! There are still three more houses left!"

"Jeez..." Mustang huffed, adjusting his crooked hairdo. "We took a hell of a loss. At least the worms will get free food- it's going to be a lot less effort rebuilding houses than repairing them. I guess that means a big camping groups again!"

"Chuckie will be thrilled," Chevy said. "Speaking of him... Where is he?"

No sooner than that, a mother came wandering down the street, looking everywhere frantically. "Lila? Misaki? Has anyone seen them?"

A man set a bucket down and answered, "No... Oi, Jessie, have you seen your friends? ….Jessie? Jessie, come here now!"

All the adults stopped at once, and murmurs began traveling through the streets. "Our kids, where are our kids?"

"You don't think the pirates could have-"

The instant it was spoken, the parents flew into hysteria.

"JUST GET ALL VALUABLES OUT! WE'LL GIVE THEM EVERYTHING!" "-No! This is a family heirloom, Charlotte!"

"But what if it wouldn't be enough? What if they decide to take us over?"

"Not likely- pirates on this sea travels, just give them what they want and they'll leave! Our kids are more important!"

_Chuckie..._ The three brothers thought simultaneously as they met eyes.

Seconds later, Camry speeded down the road.

* * *

"Give me a fucking report!" Carter shouted, thrusting a dagger with rage at the wooden deck.

The subordinate bowing to him trembled in fear and stuttered, "Th- Thirty of our men died and twenty-two injured. We've capture eight worms, fifty-seven children and one man."

"Huh?" the captain frowned at the last part. "One man? When did I say to kidnap anyone but the children?"

"Well- Well, they said that they found him up in the mountains while they were searching for worms, and brought him back- AAAAH!" He screamed as his captain advance closer. "NO- NO! HAVE MERCY! THEY BROUGH IT BACK BECAUSE THEY THINK HE MIGHT BE PART OF THAT OTHER PIRATE CREW!"

And Carter stopped. "Part of who's crew?"

"Th- The thief who stole our cannons, Sencho-sama."

_BOOM! BOOM! BAM!_

The rails facing the beach blasted apart without warning. Screams filled the air as the ship rocked on the shallow sea. Barrels rolled on the deck, and men held a firm grip to the ground as they wavered unstably back and forth.

_BOOM!_

"Sencho! The front of our ship is damaged!"

Carter turned to the speaker alarmingly. "What?"

"GIVE BACK OUR LITTLE BRO, YOU JACKASS!"

"Sencho!" another called from the opposite direction. "A pervert is attacking us with a bazooka! And he's got an army backing him!"

"A pervert?" He gritted his teeth and ran to splintered rail. Sure enough there was that pervert with the rockabilly hairdo pointing a bazooka straight at his face with townsmen and monstrous Giant Man-Eating worms coming behind him. Carter snarled and slammed a hand down on the wood. "GET THE REMAINING CANNONS READY! LOAD 'EM UP!"

"AY!"

"Heh," He smirked at the coming people. "If that thief want to disarm my ship, he should've taken all cannons instead of just twenty. My ship has the firepower equivalent to a warship. You weaklings are dead meat! FIRE!"

_BOOM!_ The explosion went off at once, sending the civilians down below flying off their feet, scattered all over the beach. Their little pitchforks and kitchen knives were absolutely no match for bombs- they were having no advantage as they did back in town where they fought against normal swords and pistols. Carter watched with delight as the explosions drove back one wave after another.

Down below, Mustang dodged a series of bombs, shook sand out his ears and spat sand out of his mouth, and tried to aim his bazooka once more.

"MUSTANG-SAN! LET'S HEAD BACK FOR NOW!" someone shouted at him. "WE HAVE MORE OF A CHANCE NEGOCIATING WITH THEM!"

"DON'T BE STUPID, ANIKI!" Chevy pleaded from the right. "YOU TOO, CAMRY-NIISAN! WHAT IF HE KILLS A KID IF WE GO TOO FAR!"

_Hell..._ "Oi, Camry, let's retreat our ass for now!" he screamed, looking back and forth between a teeth-clenching Mohawk and the rest of the townspeople who were already fleeing the scene. "There's no need for all of us to die!" _Stupid younger brothers!_ "CAMRY! LET'S GO!"

_BOOM!_ The sand rising and crashing against Camry woke him from his stubbornness, and he balled his fists and followed the rest out.

Carter smirked with triumph from above.

"Look at them!" he pointed, snickering. "They're retreating!" He grinned deliriously. "That means that they've given up fighting us... We'll hold their children hostage until they give up every single beri and every worm on this island! Bwawawawawa!"

* * *

"He looks reeeaaally weird."

"Whoa, is his hair real? It's so red!"

"Is he a clown?"

"What's a clown doing on this island?"

"Of course he's not a clown; I didn't see a circus tent anywhere in town this week!"

"Oh? And how would you know, Jacob? Maybe he _is_ a clown but just doesn't want us to know!"

"Because he doesn't have a big red nose, April-san. Besides, he looks more like a devil than a clown."

"Hey, his lipstick is the same color as my mommy's! Yum!"

"Don't take lipsticks off someone's lips and lick it off your finger, Dawn!"

"...But mommy's lipstick tastes good."

"Will he get mad if I steal his goggles?"

"OF COURSE HE WILL!" the rest of the children barked at the idiot that asked the question.

"You guys leave him alone!" The kids stopped their bickering over the red-haired stranger and turned towards the commander. Chuckie slowly got up from his spot, being careful of his injuries, and walked over. "This guy is a bloodthirsty pirate and he'll kill all of you if you annoy him," he told them.

"And how would you know, Afro-boy," the boy named Jacob drawled, crossing his arms. "For all we know, he could just be a really weird nii-san."

"Because he has a bounty poster; he's worth forty-five million beri, not that you're smart enough to know!" Chuckie retorted.

"Chuckie-san knows everything," a girl named Jessie piped up. "Everyone knows that!"

"Will you guys stop worshiping this poopyhead? It's his brothers that know everything!" Jacob snapped.

Said poopyhead hissed with anger at the statement and clenched his fist. "What the hell are you implying, asshole!"

"See? He said two bad words in a row!"

"That's because Chuckie-san is allow to say bad words," Jessie argued.

"But why when we say bad words, our parents smack us?" Jacob said. "It's not fair that nobody smacks him!"

"Jealous." Chuckie maturely stuck his tongue out.

Jacob's face flushed red. "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Hmph, whatever!" Chuckie said. "Hey Jakie, look what I can do that you can't!" He flipped the jerk his middle finger.

The rest of the children gasped.

"You can't point that finger at people!" Jacob howled with rage. "My dad said that it means a bad thing!"

"Nee-san, I want to go home," a little boy barely the age of five whimpered, clinging to his older sister.

"We'll be fine," the older sister comforted, then looked up and frowned at the two boys. "Will you stop fighting? You're scaring Misaki!"

A loud groan filled the air before either of the boys could say anything The children all jumped and looked towards the stirring red-haired stranger, whose hands flew up to his eyes, face scrunched. They glanced at one another and leaned forward.

* * *

The back of Kidd's head ached with dull pain. Swearing in his mind, he brought up a hand to his eyes and rubbed them tiredly to get himself awake. Where did those bastards bring him to? Judging by the hard floor beneath him, this must be their ship. Well damn it all, he thought as he opened his eyes, what was he suppose to do now-

Dozens of large eyes of all different colors and shapes on baby faces swam his vision, looking down at him with fascination. His mind went blank.

They blinked. He blinked back.

_What the hell?_

"QUIT STARING AT ME!" he roared, sending the majority of them reeling back in surprise. A couple of the brats sniffed and began to cry, and the rest cowered beneath his tall stature- he had stood up, a height more than half of the kids' heights. "Where the hell am I?"

"Don't do that to my friends!" a way-too-familiar voice of a certain shrimp snapped. Kidd looked down and spot a head sporting a blond Afro, and scowled. "How the hell did you get captured by another pirate crew? Aren't you suppose to be tough?"

"Shut up," he snarled, and took in his surrounding. Bars met his eyes, and beyond the bars, dust covered wooden wall and floor, barrels and boxes. He took a hold of the bars and shook them. "Damn it, we're stuck inside a cage?"

"Our worms are over at the other cage," a little girl said, pointing at another cage made of thin cross-wired bars beside their own.

But Kidd could care less. He gripped the bars once and and cursed again under his breath, already able to envision a two-hours long lecture from Killer, and possibly followed by a kick in the gut. At that exact moment, his stomach rumbled, worsening the vision; he'd missed breakfast. Killer wouldn't let this go with a kick now.

"Where's the key?" he muttered. "Oi, there's a guard out there with the key, right?"

"Well..." Chuckie narrowed his eyes. "We don't know, but there might. What are you planning to do?"

Ignoring the question, Kidd's eyes landed on the door with determination and screamed, "GIVE ME THE FUCKING KEY OR I'LL BLOW THIS SHIP APART!"

"Are you insane!" Chuckie cried.

"He's going to blow us apart!" one of the brats instantly screamed, tears running down her cheeks like waterfall "Chuckie was right! He's a bloodthirsty criminal! We're going to die! Waaah! Waah-"

The door flew opened, and said bloodthirsty criminal grinned as an irritated man marched in. "Shut the hell up or I'll tell Captain Carter, and he'll have you-"

Kidd's glare stopped him. "Give me the key."

The man gazed at him nervously and slowly held up his sword. "...Or what?"

A moment later, the side of the ship was blasted apart as weapons and bombs from the outside flew in.

* * *

"Now what?"

The question rendered them all silent.

"Now what?" Camry repeated, glaring dagger at all the men. "This is the best plan we have right now; invade their ship at all cost and set the kids free, and _then_ concentrate on fighting. They're going to leave us with absolutely nothing if we just give in! We of all people should know how pirates function by now!"

"Calm down, Camry!" Mustang snapped, and the glare turned in his direction. The oldest brother sighed. "First, we cool down and _think._ Don't rush off to your own death!"

"Let's see _you_ say those words again when they sail off with our little brother! As far as we know, this is their third day here, meaning that their Log Pose can set any minute as we waste time talking!"

One of the fathers stepped out. "But there's no way we can win facing that ship; we'd only get mow down like grass if we try to approach it." He looked grimly down at the ground. "Our problem is firepower."

"Knives and pitchforks don't go well against bullets and cannons, and there's only so much one of our Giant Man-Eating Worms can withstand," another said in agreement. "Besides, we aren't fighters- most of us aren't any better than one of those pirate scums in combat, and the women now needs help in rebuilding the town's property loss."

Mustang continued to look stressed, while Camry fumed.

Everyone snapped to attention as Chevy suddenly got up and began running down the road.

"Oi! Where are you going?" Mustang shouted. "That's the beach! Come back here!"

"I'm not going to fight them!" he shouted back. "I'm getting help!"

"What? Getting he-" He stopped when the meaning of those words hit him and cringed.

"He isn't... Is he?" Camry muttered.

"I think he is..."

"Mustang-san, what does he mean by 'getting help'?" someone asked.

The two looked at each other, then back to the confused townsmen. "I'll go stop him," Camry finally said after a while. "You stay here and explain." And he ran after Chevy.

* * *

Killer's eyes blinked open as he detected a disturbance. He sat up from his bed, placed his mask back and and opened his door. At the same time, Hiroki's door opened one down and three to the left. Both pirates stared dully at a panting Chuck brother on their deck, who was on his knees as if he'd just ran a marathon.

_What is he doing here?_ Killer thought as Chevy got back up.

"We need your help!" he shouted at them, getting straight to the point. "The other pirate crew has kidnapped Chuckie and about fifty of the children and we have no idea what they're going to do! They have too much firepower for us to deal with! You guys are powerful, right?"

Hiroki frowned, and calmly raised an eyebrow.

"Please help us! You can take whatever loot they have on their ship, we don't care! We only want the children back!"

"Sounds like trouble," the shipwright commented. "That's really too bad."

The masked man glanced at the teen coldly. "Get off our ship. What happens to this island is hardly our business."

Chevy's jaws clenched. "But..."

"You must understand," the shipwright said with a smile. "We have no reason to help anyone."

The teen refused to give up. "Let me talk to your captain then!"

"What makes you think that you'd have a better result with him?" Killer asked, getting slightly irritated. "Kidd won't help you-"

"DAMN YOU, CHEVY! WHY ARE YOU ASKING HELP FROM PIRATES?" The main deck of _Maria_ promptly indented as a foot kicked Chevy down. Camry landed beside the dent, out of breath and looked mighty pissed. He looked up with furious eyes at the provoked pirates- Hiroki's expression had gone stone-cold at the damage just done to the ship, and Killer's hands gripped his scythes. "Whatever he said to you, disregard it! We don't need help from pirates!"

"Stop being stubborn, Nii-san!"

"You stop it!" Camry growled back. "What the fuck are you doing? They'll only cause us more trouble!"

Above as the brothers argued, Hiroki looked up at Killer. "Should we?"

"No," the masked man said. "Whatever happens is none of our business. They ca handle their situation themselves."

A nod.

"Where's Kidd?" Killer suddenly asked. "By the amount of racket these two are causing, he should be up already."

"I don't know..." the shipwright replied wistfully. "If you ask me, I don't think he's on the ship at all."

It was wordless for a minutes as Killer walked over to the room of their captain and opened the door. Truth to Hiroki's prediction, he found the bedroom to be empty, and the bed an unmade mess. He closed the door and stepped back. That dumbass went out for a walk? Did he get lost?

_Is that even possible?_ he thought depressingly. _He's a human compass... But we're talking about his kind of idiocy after all._

"What if he got captured by that other pirate crew?"

"..." Killer's eyebrows quirked beneath his mask, but made no comment.

"If that's the case, we should go check," Hiroki went on.

The blond nodded, and leaped off the ship. Hiroki followed.

Down below, the brother paused in the middle of their fight and watched the two pirates leave. Chevy landed one final punch on his older brother ans rushed to the rail.

"Stupid little..." the Mohawk man muttered before recovering on his feet. "Oi, what is it now?"

"I think... I think they decided to help us!"

* * *

"Clean up, clean up! Set the cannons in formation in case they come back unpeacefully!" Carter ordered his men. "Have you got the cages for the worms ready yet?"

"Yes sir! We can fit up to a total of one hundred and fifty worms of decent size," one reported.

"That's not going to be good enough!" the captain screamed. "I want all the worms! ALL OF THEM! Make more cages for the big ones- those are the ones that'd fetch the most money, bakas!" "B- But, we wwon't be able to fit them all onto the sh-" A gun fire interrupted the protest. "I don't care! More cages! More cages! You there! Guard those pesky brats in the orlop. We're taking them all out on my order when those parents arrive!"

Carter took a swing from the bottle of booze hung by his belt and sighed with satisfaction as the alcohol calmed his nerves. Why was his crew so full of doubting imbeciles? Didn't they understand that their lives weren't important to him? This crew's sole existence was for his benefit; if they'd sink by the heavy weight, all he had to do was kill some off! Better yet, he'd kill everyone before he reached Mariejois, take down the Jolly Roger and ask legal permission from the World Government to cross the Red Line safely back to West Blue, where he'd live the rest of his life wealthy-

"Do you have our captain?"

"Don't interrupt me! I'm thinking!" he snarled back at the questioner.

Yes, what a magneficent plan! By Mariejois, he would sell the worms at every stop the Log Pose takes him to and make a for-

"Carter-sama!" his men cried.

_I told them to not interrupt me!_

"Do you have our captain?"

Carter spunned around. _What? Who?_ A man in black kimono stared back at him with a calm face and two dead, black eyes. "Who the hell are you and how did you on get my ship?" he immediately demanded.

"I'm looking for my captain, Eustass Kidd," the intruder said, taking no notice of the weapons that were pointing in his direction. "My crew mate and I were wondering if you captured him or not?"

"Carter-sama, this is the thief who stole our cannons!"

Carter sneered. "So the squad I sent didn't do their job, huh? Tough luck for you! You're against me now!"

The stranger made no move to the threat. "I'll ask you one more time; did you capture our captain?"

"if they don't have Kidd then come down already," a new voice called from the beach. "We'll go look for him in the mountains."

The man's face fell solemn as he walked to the rail. "That's disappointing then," he ssaid with a sigh before jumping off. "I was so sure that my instinct would be correct. Guess not."

Carter narrowed his eyes, and his lips pulled back into a snarl. "What are you idiots doing? Get the thief!"

* * *

Killer knew not to move. It was so inevitable that he didn't know why he'd agreed to it in the first place. Perhaps it was the fault of the little voice in his head telling him that Kidd was just this type of stupid- if not getting lost, then get into a fight or captured by someone else. The latter was especially convincing because it had been quite a repetitive situation so far.

He took out his scythes as the shipwright swiftly killed three of the enemies in a row, and ran to a stop at his right. He looked up and saw Carter glowering at them.

_So it _is_ the same ccrew that'd laughed at us back at the pub,_ he thought.

"If you want to fight, we'll make it quick," Killer said, gripping the handles of his scythes.

"Get the cannons ready! Load the bomb!" Carter commanded, not taking his eyes off the thief and that masked man. "The rest you go down there and kill them! I want this finished in ten minutes top!"

"He's rather cocky," Hiroki said as the enemy pirates charged towards them. "That's a horrible quality to have when your opponent is stronger than you."

"Remind me to remind Kidd," Killer said dryly.

"I will."

Bullets flew, cannons aimed and swords swung. The two Kidd pirates leaped apart as the small army swarmed upon them. But before anymore massacring could start, Killer felt in his hands a familiar rattling of his scythes. He paused and gripped them tightly.

"Oi, what's going on. My sword..."

"The bullets are floating in mid-air!"

"So are the bombs!"

Killer was undecided to be glad or mad as everything flew towards the side of Carter's ship, imploding it.


	30. The Three Stooges and a Mascot

******Author's Note:** Thanks goes to ___Allycat18, ChibiFluff, doriansburial__,_ and ___yumeniai_ for reviewing!

Sorry for the lateness of this chapter- it ended up needing a lot of editing before I finally got it somewhat to my liking (and my writing is _still_ bumpy in some places). But I hope the content makes up for something- it's the last chapter of this arc, after all. :D

* * *

The impact shook the sea, rocked the ship, and blasted the wooden wall and metal bars into smithereens. The children were thrown back into the furthest corner, screaming with fear as the slight heat from the explosion warmed their faces. Kidd smirked sinisterly and held on, and moments later, stepping out of the cage over the guard's body on the floor, the discarded weapons and bomb pieces, and running outside into the open, his boots soaked from the shallow sea water.

___I'm going to make that bastard who captured me regret it!_ The redhead crowed victoriously as the morning sun hit him, playing in his mind of just how he was going to kill said bastard. His smugness was stopped short, however, by the scenario displayed.

"...What the hell are you doing here?" he questioned his crew mates- one looking very pleased with himself as if he'd just won a ten million beri bet, and the other stood in such as way, emitting such an aura that spoke, "I'll let you off the hook for now, but don't think I'm going forget about this."

"So I was right," the pleased one said, startling the stunned enemy pirates around him. He ignored them and turned towards Killer, and asked, "Do we stay and fight, or go?"

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead at the total disregarding of him. "I'm your captain, damn it!" he barked angrily at Hiroki.

"Don't think any of you is leaving this place alive!" someone from above boomed before the shipwright could make a comeback, and Kidd spun around. His eyes narrowed when he located the speaker; the asshole from the pub who had laughed at him. Carter was now sneering down at them with disdain written all over his face as if they were but the ants beneath the sole of his shoe. "I said 'I want them gone in ten minutes!' That is an order!"

The redhead glared back with pure loathing. "Who's going to be gone in ten minutes?" he hissed dangerously.

Carter turned his attention specifically at Kidd and raised an eyebrow, rubbing on the younger captain's nerve with the facial gesture.

"You?" he muttered out loud after a moment. "Who are you? You're the guy that my men captured?" The concentrating expression turned into that of a mocking one. "Oi, oi, I remember you! Aren't you that Pirate King wannabe back at the pub? ...You're a real pirate?" A snicker broke from his lips. "Bwewewe... Bwawawawa!"

"Who the hell are you laughing at?" Kidd snarled furiously.

"That's funny! Really funny!

Shadow covered the redhead's eyes as seconds passed, and his hands tingled at his side with the start of his power. Slowly, before he made a move, he forced himself back before turning to Killer with a murderous look. "I'm going to kill him," he snarled at his first mate. "No matter what you say!"

"Go ahead," the masked man answered. "It's the third day. You can kill anyone you like."

Laughter broke out amongst the men on the beach at the reply.

"You hear that," one openly taunted. "They say they'll kill Carter-sama."

"Ha! Fat chance!"

Sounds of swords being drawn and guns clicking. "Three little rookies think they can take on all of us?"

"Ay! Let's teach 'em a lesson!"

___Slice!_ Killer's right scythe whooshed out and decapitated three men at once, halting all noise around him. The heads and headless bodies landed softly on the ground, soaking the sand beneath their living comrades' feet and drove immediate fear into their minds as the blood spread. The rest of them looked up at a calm masked man, their faces transformed from lunatic to uneasiness, and slowly began backing off.

Beneath his mask, Killer's lips twitched up into a small smirk at the retreat. Having firm grips on his scythes, he dived after his preys.

Some twenty feet away from the Massacre Man's battling area, Hiroki watched with great interest as the curved blades spun and flew in the air, completely omitting the growing skepticism from the enemy pirates around him. Truly there was nothing better to watch than a good fighter fighting a good fight. Why, just look at the angle of that cut- clean, flat and so unexpected for the victim that that headless body actually ran five steps before collapsing-

"Let's finish this one quickly!"

He swung an arm and knocked the attacker away before turning his attention to, what normal people would consider, real troubles of the moment.

"Making a scene during a show is rude. Please go bother someone else," he kindly told his interrupters, who did not take his mannered complaints too well, before turning just in time to see a body flying nearly thirty feet up into the air.

"What the hell?" one of them snapped, tried to form a tough sneer but failed miserably. "Not willing to fight, are you? You must be a weaker member then!"

And that ruffled Hiroki's feathers. "What did you call me?"

"All that talk about the cannon thief being a demon, what bullshit!" another mocked, holding his sword out stupidly. "I guess that's what we get for putting weaklings on guarding duty!"

"Labeling me such when I easily killed three of your comrades just now? What an arrogant attitude," the shipwright commented disapprovingly, frowning before giving them a frigid look. "You'll regret calling me weak."

He flexed a hand, and struck the nearest sorry bastard.

* * *

Their idiotic bravery only lasted as long as they didn't know about Kidd's Devil Fruit power, which wasn't long. After the third bullet went off in someone's face, the infantries had more or less figured out that they were not fighting a normal human.

"_Repel_!" Kidd commanded, sending his weapon-made arm flying towards a hoard of running men. Who didn't get impaled by random swords or shot by bullet promptly tripped and died by a rain of sharp and explosive objects. Having done enough damages to keep the weaklings away, the redhead faced the object of his anger, and sneered as Carter's face grew whiter and whiter. He regathered the arm. "You were saying something about real pirates?"

"Eat this!"

A cannon went off. BOOM!

Kidd snorted in the face of the speeding bomb. "Are you blind? _Repel!"_

The bomb reverted direction and blew the main mast apart. Splinters rained in the background as fear scribbled itself on Carter's face. The giant arm cranked and shifted beside Kidd and rose off the ground.

"Now- Now, wait a minute," the older captain tried to say while backing off further away from the rail, and screamed with fear as the hand shot up and grabbed him, slamming him on the rail, breaking the wood and throwing him down into the shallow sea, the blood spewing out the wounds dyed parts of the water.

"What's wrong?" Kidd jeered, peering down at the man with hard eyes. "What are you so afraid of? Since I don't look like a pirate, that makes me weak! Isn't that right?"

Carter coughed.

"Oh... I got it," he continued after seconds of fearful silence from the man, a devilish sneer on his face. "You didn't expect me to be a Devil Fruit user, did you? After all, how can a little pretend-pirate who couldn't even stand to defend himself be a threat?"

The arm rustled and Carter flinched at the movement.

"Let me tell you something, you son of a bitch," Kidd hissed. "I wasn't afraid; you were _spared_ by the timing. But now it's the third day, I can kill you a thousand times over!"

"One Piece doesn't exist?" he went on, voice dangerously low. "The 'King of Pirates' is a joke? Whom do you think you've mocked, useless trash?" The man in the water scrambled back, but it made no difference as the redhead closed their distance. "Now that you saw my power you run like a little roach; you're not even putting up a fight! A coward like you dare to laugh at me and Killer? We're a thousand times the pirate you are!"

"Li- Listen," Carter stuttered. "I- I t- take it all back. You go do whatever you want! I'm only in it for the money, nothing else!"

"So what?" he retorted. "You shouldn't have pissed me off." A sneer. "You'll pay for your mistake!"

"No, please! I'll give you all my money and my ship too! And my entire crew-" He froze as he caught sight of his crew's remnants behind the redhead, and all blood drained from his face.

Kidd felt no pity. "Too late."

The next moment. A terrifying high-pitch scream fill the beach.

_CRASH!_

The mass of sharp weapons tightened around Carter's body, crushing the man of his life. His scream withered and died along with his breath. Now, bones crunched and muscles torn, Kidd released the limp body from his grip let go of the weapons around his left arm.

Silence dawned, and the only background noise was the unchanged lapping of the waves hitting the shore.

"How long did that take?" he asked out of the blue.

"Five minutes," his shipwright answered. "Maybe eight. I wasn't keeping time."

"Che." Five or eight minutes made to difference to the fact that they were as weak as fuck. "We should have killed them back at the bar; it'd make things easier."

"No killing until the last day," was all Killer said.

Kidd scowled just as thundering footsteps could be heard behind them. The three turned around to be met with a mob of townspeople with fighting supplies rushing towards them, and gave each other looks as the civilians stopped, gaping with astonishment.

The redhead snickered in his head at their expressions; it must be a horrifying sight for them to see.

Surrounding Killer was a bunch of dead bloody bodies that were either decapitated, spine sliced with a crushed skull, or the chest cut opened, obviously been struck in the heart. His first mate's clothes were soaked red. Around Hiroki littered clean bodies of men that Kidd knew were no longer alive, but the lack of blood would speak different to anyone who'd never witness the shipwright fighting. Of course, the amount of swords and guns around himself was sufficient to scare anyone away.

Speaking of the townspeople...

He looked back at the kids still in the broken cage, huddled together in that same corner. Their faces showed everything from traumatized to admiration to marveling at the dead bodies and blood.

"Oi, shrimps, your parents are here," he called.

A moment later, children scuttled past him, following by a horde of worms. Shouts of "mum! Dad!" and joyful cries replaced the screams of dying bastards. Kidd stood on his spot, wondering how the islanders would take them. Probably not too friendly even though he did free their kids, not that it was his intention in the first place.

Oh well, who would give a fuck anyway? They were leaving today-

___Huh?_

He glanced down at the little girl tugging on his cargo shorts.

"Jessie!" a man screamed in the background. "Come back here, don't go near that man!"

_See? Ungrateful assholes- that's all normal people are._ "What do you want?" he snapped at the girl, giving her a look.

"Uh... Uh..." "JESSIE, COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, OR YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!" The child seemed more frightened by that than anything else, as she let go of Kidd's pant and stepped hesitatingly away. But no sooner, she turned back to Kidd anyway and flashed him a bright smile. "Thank you, Onii-san!"

He blinked, taken aback for a minute and watched her as she ran to her father, who picked her up and hurried away with the rest of the crowd.

Then he scowled. "Stupid midget."

"You should be nicer, jerk," Chuckie said as he walked to his side him and gave him a glare. "She actually thank you when she could've called you a monster!"

"Did I ask for your opinion, shrimp?" he snarled.

The shrimp glared even harder. "Hmph, I'm not scared of you-"

"CHUCKIE, LET'S GO!"

Their glaring contest broke as the little boy hurried away, grumbling under his breath something along the lines of "bossy big brothers." At a safe distance, he turned around one final time, blew Kidd a raspberry, and ran again.

The pirates watched the last of the them disappear.

"That was..." Hiroki paused to find a word. "...Amusing."

"Shut up!" his captain barked.

"Very mature," Killer said sarcastically. "Picking a fight with a seven year old."

"He's nine!" Kidd seethed.

"And that's better how?"

It wasn't, so he did not answer and instead, settled for a scowl.

Trying to decide what to do at the moment, Kidd suddenly felt a familiar thud of a heavy weight being set within him, and breathed with relief before turning to his nakamas. "I set. Let's get off this island. The islanders can clean up this mess themselves."

"Not so fast," their shipwright said, heading for the half-wrecked ship.

"What is it now?"

The black-haired man placed a hand on the side. "This junk here has a lot of materials we might need later in case ___Maria_ gets damaged, not the mention the furniture and the treasures we might need on board. Please give me four or five hours to take it apart."

"Sure," Kidd said carelessly.

* * *

In the town of Campbell Float, the Giant Man-Eating worms had already cleansed the town of broken and burn houses, eating the wrecks to their foundations. Beyond the town and by the edge of the mountains, camps had already been set up by the people without houses, the campfires going strong and delicious aroma of lunch waffled in the air. The freed children rejoined their friends, telling stories and spinning up tall tales for the ones who weren't captured. Jacob stood smugly in the middle of one large circle, his listeners stared at him half with idolization and the other half with disbelief.

The adults worked, the kids played, and inside their home- which hadn't been destroyed by the fire luckily-, Ren napped in her corner in the living room, and the four Chuck brothers scattered around the chairs, tired but attentive.

"That was their way of 'helping us'?" Camry growled. "There were _children_ there! They were killing like madmen in front of a bunch of already scared kids!"

"It wasn't that scary," Chuckie muttered, earning a look. He huffed and shut up.

"...Maybe they weren't helping us?" Chevy suggested.

"Of course not!" Camry snapped. "They were rescuing their captain, that's what! I told you all a thousand times and I'll tell you again; pirates doesn't care about what happen to us, we should all know that by now!"

"Calm down, Camry," Mustang ordered from his chair. "What's important is that everyone is safe."

"By a stroke of luck," the second eldest snorted, then his face hardened, and he gazed down at his youngest brother, who squirmed uncomfortably under his eyes. "They'd kill all of us if they have to."

The oldest stared at him sternly. "We know nothing except what really happened, so don't make false assumptions. Those pirates have no killing intention in mind as far as we know. If they had, they would've easily obliterated our town."

Camry merely fumed, and looked away. "But while we're on this, I want to talk about what really matter." he turned back to the boy swinging his legs on the kiddie-chair. "You saw them, Chuckie, yet you still want to join those pirates?" He got back a shrug and a pair of pursing lips. "You need to understand just what you're suggesting to us. This isn't a game where you can quit if you chicken out."

"I don't know," Chuckie finally muttered through clenched teeth, still refusing to look at anyone. "I never said that we absolutely have to, but they're the closest we can get!"

"So we should put our lives in the hands of three bloodthirsty pirates that we know almost nothing about?"

No response.

"I..." Chevy spoke up for the first time in the last five minute. "I see where he's coming from."

"Not you too, Chevy!" the Mohawk man hissed, his fists balled.

"Nii-san, out of the four of us, you're the only one who took pirate-hating seriously."

That left Camry speechless with cold rage.

"It's time we get over everything anyway," Mustang said. "I've been thinking about this myself for a while. Dad's promise is our promise. Who knows, if we wait a year or more, that person could be anywhere, in any condition- living or dead-"

"Aniki!" the second eldest shouted. "You can't be serious!"

The oldest brother sighed. "Face the fact, Camry, we'll never be strong enough to go anywhere with our fighting level. If we can attach ourselves to a strong crew with an okay captain, pirates or not,we'd have a much better chance at giving Dad's soul peace in heaven.

"Those circus pirates don't seem to be the pointless murdering-type we encountered, meaning they'd at least have some heart and compassion for humans, and they seem determined. You might be right about them not caring- I don't expect anyone to. Who would? But Chuckie's also right; they might be our best bet." He looked up at Camry. "Dad threw away the one thing that might recover his memories because he refuse to abandon a family. It's about time we pay him back."

Camry averted his gaze towards a window.

"It's three against one, Nii-san," Chevy said.

The Mohawk gritted his teeth.

"It's final, isn't it?" he whispered.

The silence answered '"Yes."

"If they ever turn bad, we're leaving that crew."

At his words, Chuckie lifted his head and blinked before a wide smile spread on his face.

* * *

"I swear, she's getting heavier and heavier by the minute-"

"Shush," Chuckie hushed Chevy as they walked through the emptier part of the town, his older brother grumbling complaints about the weight he had to carry- Ren. "Don't wake her up or she'll never leave us."

"Are you sure we shouldn't leave Ren to Anna-san instead, Chuckie?"

"I'm sure! Besides," the little boy declared proudly. "I'm the one who found Ren, so my say counts!"

Chevy sighed as they turned a corner and arrived at the edge of the town. Two familiar silhouettes sat back to back, heads hung down with discourage and clothes disheveled. The two brightened up at the sight of the coming brothers, and was about to shout "Hello" just as they saw Chuckie putting an index finger over his lips.

"You guys are still at it?" the boy scoffed, walking up to them.

I-O sighed. "I don't get it. Being one of the seven first islands on Grand Line, you'd think that we get a lot of dumb tourists, but it just doesn't work out."

E-O nodded sadly. "We haven't had a customer in fourth months."

"You two are so fucking unbelievable about your advertisement, that's why," Chuckie snapped. "Nobody would believe Giant Man-Eating worms to be dangerous once they saw how we tame them; that's why the majority of the pirates aim for capturing them instead of being scared."

"But if the town people would just get into the act-" I-O began.

"Like hell we would do that just for you!" the brothers barked at the two tour guides, who pouted.

"Anyway," Chevy said, setting Ren down onto the ground. "We're here to drop Ren off. We're leaving this place for good." His stomached tightened, even though his voice sounded cheerful. "But she's barely half a year old. Aniki said that you two can have our house and what's left in it after we're gone if you're willing to take care of her."

The partners' eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "Are you playing with us, Chevy!"

"We thought that you guys would never leave this island!"

"Change of plan," the older said, scratching the sleeping worm beneath her jaw, earning a content purr. "So will you take her in?"

"Oi, Nii-san," Chuckie interrupted before they could answer, looking at Ren longingly. "Are you... Are you sure that they won't allow Ren on the ship?"

"Of course not!" his brother answered. "The sea is no place for a worm." Then he turned back to I-O and E-O. "Will you?"

"Definitely!"

"How can we not?"

Chevy smiled and got up. "It's settle then," he said, taking a hold of Chuckie's shirt despite the protest from the boy. "The key for the front door is under the first flower pot, and we've stored nearly three months supply of miniature houses in the basement. Get jobs and don't starve to death, you two dumbasses."

"We won't!" they cried happily as the two brother left.

Five minutes passed, and E-O sank back down with happiness. "We just got free room and board, partner!" he said with glee.

"Ay, ahaha!" I-O laughed, and picked Ren up, beginning to tickle her under the chin. She stirred and yawned.

And opened her eyes.

* * *

Anna-san smiled softly at him as she poured the second cup of tea. "You have nothing to worry about; you'll all be fine. Those pirates seems like nice folks. So what if they get a little violent once in a while- that's just a part of piracy that can never be changed. But you know, Camry-san, there is no black and white."

"And that's what worries me," he said with a sigh. "That, and how over-confident they are about we getting accepted. 'Oh, it won't be a problem. They'd take in all four of us, I'm sure of it!'" he quoted his younger brothers, and sighed again. "I see no problem with Mustang and I in a pirate crew- we're fighters, but what about Chevy and Chuckie? What if they say no, then what? Why the hell did I even agree?"

"You haven't asked the pirates yet?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really, you brothers are too impulsive on things."

"That is another problem!"

She chuckled. "You're the worst of the four, Camry-san."

He frowned. "I'm impulsive?"

* * *

If all Grand Line islands were like this one, then Eustass Kidd was not particularly fond of this sea. Reviewing the last three days here, Campbell Float walked the line between excitement and boredom without tipping over to either side enough to fall in. It offered bloodshed, but not the frenzy, adrenaline-pumping battle he was hoping for- once again, the enemies were as weak as _fuck_. The worms had been enough to shock him, but with so little contact, and the fact that he was prepared for weirdness, awe wore off as quickly as it came.

Sitting on the deck and facing the direction of the next island with a stack of bounty posters in front of him, he occupied his mind with thoughts of one day being able to crow and stand towering over Killer as a better, the thought of the day when Killer would no longer be able to boss him around and make him read and learn unimportant nonsenses. His dark heart lightened up with such lovely vision- the grand moment when Killer would bow down to him and proclaim him the king of his world, taking off that stupid mask. How Kidd would laugh...

Of course, he needed to become the Pirate King first in order for any of that to happen.

"Let us join your crew!"

"Baka, you don't join people's crew like this!"

"Put down that bazooka, Aniki!"

"Yeah, you look more like you want to fight!"

___What the hell is going on?_The future King of Pirates- somewhere, Luffy's nose twitched, and managed a halfhearted sneeze- stood up and headed for the rail to witness the commotion.

In his room, Killer closed his book, dropped his quill, and looked up.

By the back deck, Hiroki stacked the last of the cut wood neatly in a safe corner in the orlop, and walked outside.

True to his brothers' words, with fierce, wrinkled forehead lines and his bazooka on his shoulder, Mustang did look as if he was prepared to fight. Kidd narrowed his eyes at them, and leaped down from his ship.

"What the hell do you want now?" Two soft thuds behind him followed.

"We're here to join your crew," Chevy said.

The captain leaned back, flabbergasted. Killer was unreadable, and the shipwright raised an eyebrow.

"...What?" he finally said with disbelief.

"Are you deaf?" Chuckie asked, crossing his arms.

Kidd's face twitched. "Do you have a death wish?"

Standing silently frowning in his spot and watching an argument firing up, Camry wondered if his brothers really expected recruitment to be possible.

"They want to join the crew," Killer repeated helpfully.

"I know that! Why the hell do they want to join the crew!"

"Who cares," the masked man said. "Are you going to accept them or not?"

"Are you suggesting that I do?" the captain questioned crossly. "I'm not listening to you again! Last time I recruited on your whims, we ended up with ___that_ guy!" He pointed at Hiroki, who muttered, "What's so horrible about me...?"

"I have nothing to do with last time," Killer defended. "He invited himself in."

"That's not my point! I'm not going to recruit them just because you say so!" He whirled around and death glared the four brothers for no apparent reason than to vent off anger. They stiffened up and eyed him wearily. "So you want to join a pirate crew? Well, I'm not going to make it easy on you guys. I don't allow dead weights on my ship so each and every one of you better be of use!

"Now...Can any of you cook?"

* * *

___That idiot,_ Killer thought as he listened to the occurring conversation of Chevy near successfully convincing the captain that booby trappers were great importance for pirate crews. Already, the teen seemed to be catching on to the one thing that'd make Kidd say yes to anything: a lecture using big words. He doubted that the redhead knew half of what Chevy was saying, judging by the amount of head nods.

Not that he was stopping the teen. Quite contrary, the masked man was actually glad that new members would be added. The thought of just three in a crew on Grand Line had been worrying him for some times now, especially with the kind of person their shipwright was, absolute loyalty had yet been insured.

From what he could gather, the brothers seemed to be quite trustworthy, trained fighters of all different level, and having a real cook who could make real food was icing on the cake...

….Change that thought; make the cooking the cake and the fighting part the icing.

Speaking of usefulness... The masked man glanced at the nervous Afro-boy, and amused himself at the thought of someone as old as Kidd being outmaneuvered by a nine year old's trick.

Ten minutes later, they got themselves a gunner, a chef, a booby trapper and a mascot.

Killer applauded Chuckie's brilliancy.

What happened next confirmed his theory that Kidd's stupidity was, indeed, bottomless.

"In this crew and on this ship, I am the leader and commander, and in a pirate crew, there will be rules!" the captain declared to the new recruits. "Number one: I am captain. Therefore, my words are the absolute! Got that?" They glanced at each other before nodding. "Number two: you may only call me one of three things, and those three things will be: 'Kidd-sama', 'Captain', or 'Boss'!"

"He is..." Killer did not bother finishing.

"Yes," Hiroki agreed sadly. "He is..."

"And the third and final rule!" Kidd led the new members onto the main deck and stepped in front off the mast. He pointed a finger at the mast. "You see this red button?"

Silence.

The shipwright blinked; it was the emergency button that would open blade-like rotators beneath the ship, which, spinning at high speed, would create a single large whirlpool. With enough water power generated, the force will send the ship flying for two kilometers...

"Do you see this red button or not?"

"We see it," Mustang said.

Kidd looked at the other three. "What about you?"

"We all see it," Camry said.

"Good! Because here's number three: I don't care if it's a matter of life and death. ___Nobody press this button!_"


	31. Inter Arc: Promises

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Msaju17, Allycat18, Ghost-Kun, ChibiFluff, Tally Mai-chan, doriansburial_ and _yumeniai_ for reviewing! :D

First things first, I have to apologize to you readers for the amount of OCs that I suddenly shoved at you. I really intended them to be coming into the crew one or two at a time when I first started this story, but by some times around chapter ten, Chuckie came to my mind and the little brat refused to leave it. Then, the other three brothers emerged together as a set soon after, and I just couldn't separate them into different arcs with the flood of plot points placed that those characters tied themselves to (and ONE major plot point you'll see right in this filler). My coming up with Chuckie first also explains why he is the only of the four not named after a car. :|

Anyway, today we have Mustang's and Camry's profiles, one will be right here, one at the end, and the rest of them will be after this Inter Arc.

Name: Chuck (Last) Mustang (First) And yes, he's named after the car.

Age: 28

Eye: Most of the time, he has black shades on, but his eyes are light brown

Hair: Sandy blond in Rockabilly style that extends about a foot in front of his face. (Hair color is from his mother)

Height: Slightly taller than canon-Kidd's height

Fighting Ability: He's fast and strong, but not inhumanly so like the first three crew members are. He keeps two pistols hidden in his pockets and fights mainly with a bazooka. His marksmanship is great, and if he is forced to, a little hand-to-hand combating won't be out of question.

Interests: Fighting, plays the saxophone, taking care of his bazooka and guns, camping

Characteristics: He firmly believes that his fashion style is for him and refuses to change, is responsible, protective of his friends and family, and often jumps to conclusion- sometimes doing so illogically, but has a quite reasonable and forgiving nature.

One Unique Thing About Him: I'll admit it, I originally created Mustang to be Franky's counterpart in the crew. One would think they're made to fight each other, but that's not the case because Franky is without a doubt stronger than him. They are more similar through their perversion than anything else, even though in truth, Mustang only looks like a pervert due to his appearance and Franky is a real pervert at heart. As for how he looks like a pervert... Well, he wears super-tight leather pants and leather vest with only two lower buttons buttoned, leaving his entire upper chest – and very hairy it is- exposed to the world. And I believe that I wrote about his trademark pedo-grin.

That's it for him. :)

**AU ATTENTION! I'm making an AU tweak to the One Piece world: the Rumbar Pirates did not leave fifty years ago, but rather thirty-five years ago.**

* * *

By noon, Campbell Float was but a speck in the distance.

Kidd was naturally bored at this hour with the same bounty poster stack in front of him. Killer was gazing at the sky, observing the Grand Line weather for any signs of irregularity. Chuckie was in the kitchen with Camry, eyeing a bowl of cookie dough with greed as his older brother tried desperately to convince him to leave. Mustang and Chevy were inside the control room with Hiroki, discussing the usages of each button.

Nobody noticed a snake-like shadow suddenly arising in a corner.

The shadow stretched towards the bright sun, opened its mouth and let out a little yawn, and... "Woof!"

_What's that?_ Kidd stood up as a hand flew to his newly equipped dagger that he'd strapped on his side. The brothers and Hiroki came out of their whereabouts, and Killer narrowed his eyes beneath his mask, turning towards the source of the sound.

"Who's there?" the captain demanded.

No answer.

The shadow twisted and turned, and seconds later, Ren crawled out from her corner, fully awoke and happy as hell.

Everyone widened their eyes.

"My, my, isn't this a pleasant surprise?"

"Who the hell brought this thing onto my ship?"

"I thought you left her with E-O and I-O, Chuckie!"

"We did!"

"Damn it, those irresponsible assholes... I told you that we should've left her with Anna-san!"

"Well..." Mustang looked at Kidd wearily. "You won't kick her off, will you?"

"I did _not_ and never planned to recruit a worm!"

"Hold on," Chuckie called, shushing them all before turning to his pet. "Ren's trying to tell me something!"

And indeed, she was- as well as she could communicate with her weird worm dance and her constant nonsensical animal blabbing. Kidd could not make out a head or tail of it, yet the boy in front of her seemed to be listening quite understandingly, nodding and saying "uh huh" every few seconds. The redhead arched an eyebrow at this and turned to the nearest brother.

"You people speak worm?"

"No," Chevy answered. "But Giant Man-Eating worms are very expressive creatures, so we figure out how they feel and what they want most of the time."

He found that acceptable, and turned to Chuckie just as Ren finished.

"She told me that she woke up just after we left her with I-O and E-O, and they explained to her that we're leaving for good. So she figured out that we must have joined the pirate crew and decided to go after us, but I-O and E-O tried to trapped her in a net. Luckily, she got away, crawled to the beach by digging a tunnel in the sand, sneaked onto the ship while we're busy, hid herself in the corner and fell asleep again," Chuckie told them. "She said that she's going where we're going, and she not leaving us."

Behind him, Ren nodded her worm head profusely.

"THAT WAS _NOT_ FIGURING OUT HOW SHE FEELS," Kidd barked at Chevy. "THAT WAS AN ENTIRE FUCKING TRANSLATION!"

He was ignored.

"Anyway," the Afro-boy said with a sheepish grin. "She can stay right? She's very well-trained and well-mannered, plus she doesn't eat much at this age, and it's going to be some times before she really starts to grow. Here, c'mon Ren- Huh? ...Ren?"

But the worm was well away from him, heading towards Killer, who immediately glanced down with irritation and stepped back, thinking that she might slither past him, which didn't happen. She went right up to him and proceeded rubbing her head against his leg affectionately, purring with contentment with hearts where her eyes used to be. The masked man withdrew back, clearly displeased, only to have her lean forward.

"What the hell is she doing?" he growled.

"Giant man-Eating worms can't see as well as humans, but they have a keen sense of smell,"Camry explained. "She must like your scent very much, thus, she rubs herself against your leg to show her love for you."

The temperature around Killer declined.

"I don't care if she likes my smell..." he said in a dead tone.

Moments later, Ren rocketed into the sky much to everyone's shock.

"I _despise_ slimes!" the masked man snarled. "Keep that thing away from me!" And he went into his room, slamming the door behind him just as Ren landed in a plop in the middle of the deck.

Chuckie bent down and held his whimpering pet, worries written all over his face.

Mustang turned to the captain. "So can she stay? Ren makes a very good ship-guard."

* * *

By the time night fell, there was already a small party of some sort going on on the main deck. Everyone had more or less settled down with their new nakamas and the new surrounding. Well, everyone, that was, except for Killer who was still up in his room, the window bright, indicating him either to be reading, writing or... Hell, Kidd scowled to himself, what else could he be doing?

"Shut up!" Chuckie snapped at Mustang, who was laughing so hard that he had trouble breathing. "So what if I used to shit my pants up until last year? I stopped because I wanted to, not because you threatened to put me back in diapers! Besides, Anna-san's dad to me that you were still sucking your thumb until Mom made you stop when you were fourteen! And don't think I forgot about you either, Chevy! I know all about you and how you used to wet the bed and take pills for blabber-control! And you too, Camry! Ochipo-jisan told me about the time when you tried to dye your hair with blue food color and how your entire head was blue for three months! Damn you guys... REN, NOT YOU TOO! STOP LAUGHING AT ME, IT'S NOT THAT FUNNY! MEANIES!"

Hiroki smiled at he watched the display, and turned to his captain. "What about you, Sencho?"

"Like hell I am telling you!" Kidd shouted before emptying his mug of low-alcohol ale, a token of gratitude from that girl from the pub or something along that line. Who cared? It was free and it didn't taste half bad, and he was able to have two without feeling drunk, unlike last time.

Three or four more embarrassing sibling stories later left a pouting nine year old and three older brothers looking for something else to do.

"Oi, Mustang, did you bring your..." Camry asked, heading for their living quarter.

"Oh, you brought yours too? That's great!"

"That reminds me," Chevy said. "Get mines too, will you? It's right under my trapping kit."

"Get it yourself, lazy asses. Mine is heavy enough!"

Kidd turned to his shipwright. "What are they talking about?"

Hiroki nodded in Camry direction, where the cook was setting up a drum set. "I guess they're also musicians."

"Really?"

Indeed, three minutes later, the last of the metal plate were positioned in place, Mustang had with him an all-gold-and-shiny saxophone, and in front of Chevy was a keyboard.

_Nice, we got entertainment too._

"So shrimp, do you play the triangle or do you clap along?" Kidd asked one empty-handed Chuckie.

"Shut up!" the shrimp barked back. "I play the guitar!"

And he went into the room where they'd temporarily stashed their belongings. Sounds of things being thrown and crashes could be heard as the boy browsed through the mess. A while later, he dragged a large guitar case with him back onto the deck, set it down, took the zipper and made a circle around the case opening it.

"Looks like a lot of work," Hiroki commented.

"Shut up!" Chuckie said for the umpteenth time that evening, lifting the top of the case open and finally dragged out a guitar.

It was bigger than himself, and sat in his lap quite awkwardly.

Kidd restrained his laughter and waited.

"I've been playing since I was four!" the boy began with pride. "And this is my Dad's old guitar. I named her Rebecca!"

The redhead couldn't hold it.

"WILL YOU LISTEN FIRST, JERK? OR I'LL TELL KILLER-SAN!" Chuckie threatened, shutting Kidd up immediately, who settled for death-glaring the brat instead.

Hiroki raised an eyebrow. _They learn surprisingly fast. It took me quite a while to notice that about Kidd-sama and he spot it so quick. Though, I doubt Killer-san will get mad over something like this._

Chuckie strung some notes. "So we'll play Dad's favorite song," he continued, earning approving looks from his brothers. "I was told that he always sings it."

Some more notes later, the band started playing.

"_Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,  
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,  
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,  
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,_

_Going to deliver Binks' Sake!  
Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!  
Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!  
Painting circles in the sky as the Birds Sing..."_

"What song is this?"

"Binks' Sake," Hiroki answered. "It's quite a popular pirate song, often sung in the old times. I'm surprised; they play it really well, and Chuckie-kun's not bad of a singer."

Kidd turned back to the brothers and listened. True, they weren't bad at all.

"I suppose that shrimp is at least useful for something if not being a mascot," he finally said just as the song was about to end.

"_...__Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,  
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho!"_

"How's that for you," came the instant smug crowing.

"Could be better," Kidd replied.

"WHAT? WHY I OUTTA-"

* * *

A burp.

A hiccup.

"Say... Boss."

Kidd looked up from his third empty mug, feeling rather sluggish and lightheaded. "What is it, shrimp?"

"When is Killer-san going to take his mask off? He's been wearing it for days and days."

The redhead blinked awake. It was strange, hearing a question that he used to ask himself. Memories of the times in the Cross-Blades crew flooded his mind, the times when he still had no idea what the hell was going on, the times when Killer went easy on him, and still kicked his ass in every fight. The times before the promise.

_That's right. He's never going to show his face if I don't become Pirate King. _

_How stupid._

_I stopped wondering too, because it doesn't matter what he looks like, and because if I don't, I'd end up taking it off myself...Which means cheating his end of the deal._

"To tell the truth, that's something that I've been wondering too," Hiroki spoke up. "I was a little scared to ask and thought it isn't any of my business. I understand if it's something between the two of you, but now that it's been brought up..."

"Does he ever take his mask off?" Chevy wondered.

"None of you will ever see his face," Kidd declared, cutting everything off. "Before I do so. After I become the King of Pirates, I will personally take it off myself and you can look at his face all you want!"

"Wait..." Camry interrupted, frowning. "What is this King of the Pirates thing?"

Then, it was the captain's turn to frown. "What do you mean 'what'? I'm going to become the King of Pirates and you're all going to help me, being my crew! Why the hell did you joined for?"

"Well..." The brothers looked at each other. Mustang spoke up for them, "We actually joined to find a person, but I suppose that making you the King of Pirates isn't out of question... If it's possible, that it."

"Are you doubting me?" Kidd narrowed his eyes dangerously, making them all leaning back, slightly startled.

"...No," they answered simultaneously.

At this point, the captain turned to his unmoving shipwright. "And what about you, Hiroki? Now that we're on this topic, I never know why the hell you joined my crew..." he growled.

The black-haired man poured himself another mug of ale. "My reason?" he answered. "I'm looking for something as well, and since you're my captain, to make you the King of Pirates."

Kidd huffed. "So you believe in my dream?"

"To be honest... I first thought you were bluffing."

"WHY HAVE I NOT MURDERED YOU YET!"

"You can't; you'll make Killer-san angry, and do let me finish please," Hiroki said, taking a sip. "Becoming the King of Pirates at this time and age is near impossible with the amount of rookies flocking into Grand Line. Statistically speaking, your chance of finding One Piece first is one in hundreds of thousands, but that's statistic. I haven't even taken in account power, the time we came in, and other factors that can easily reduce this possibility.

"However, if I have not believed that you can do it by the time that commodore came to my island, I would've simply killed you and Killer-san, or turn you in instead to spare me the trouble-" "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" "-My joining the crew, even forcing myself in, is sole proof that I have faith in you. So please relax yourself."

"YOU ARE DESPICABLE!" Kidd roared, earning back a mere shrug.

"But you still haven't answered my question yet," Chuckie protested. "What's under Killer-san's mask? What's he hiding?"

The redhead turned back to him. "You want to know?"

"Of course, or I wouldn't ask!"

Hmph, he hadn't seen it either but... An idea suddenly came to his head, and his lips slowly curved into a wicked grin. "Are you sure you want to know? 'Cause I saw it, and it scarred me for life."

The grin and those words did exactly what he intended. Chuckie's eyes became abnormally large as he leaned in.

"I saw..."

* * *

A high-pitched girly scream cut stop his concentration, and the masked man shot up and forced open his door, hands readied at his scythes for whatever danger.

What met his eyes was not danger, but the sight of a bunch of idiots laughing their heads off while Chuckie sat frozen in his place, slowly starting to tremble. The boy's head turned up towards him bit by bit, eyes as big as saucer plates and face white as sheets. He was blabbing something inaudible.

"What?" Killer snapped at all of them.

"Sorry..." Chuckie whimpered, still staring at him. "I'm... I'M SORRY!"

And with that, he scrambled at lightning speed to the rear deck.

"You haven't seen it either, have you?" Camry, the only one not laughing besides Hiroki, accused.

"Che," Kidd scoffed. "Nobody's going to see it any time soon."

Killer's eyes twitched beneath his mask, and decided to head down to grab some food. "I don't want to know," he flatly stated before any of them could explain to him what was going on. Immediately, the worm headed for him, but was pulled back by Chevy. "He doesn't like you, Ren."

She pouted in her worm way and gazed at the apple of her eyes longingly.

"So," Hiroki initiated, turning towards Mustang. "You say that you're looking for a man. Who is he? Where is he?"

"...We have no idea," the gunner admitted. "We don't know him; our Dad did."

"And your father left no description?"

"He didn't leave a description," Chevy said. "Because he had no idea what he looks like either."

Killer frowned. "Your father knew him, told you to look for him, but didn't know what the person looks like. How is that's even possible if he's so important?"

"It's possible," Mustang said. "Because our dad..." He sighed and turned to his second brother. "Camry, you tell it."

"Why me?" the cook grumbled.

"'Cause you're the hopeless romantic here, Nii-san. You tell stories like this the best," Chevy said, drank the last drop of his ale, and got up for a refill.

Camry scowled. "I'm not a hopeless romantic!" he snapped, ready to argue for his pride more but got stopped by his captain's interest gaze, an expression that was obviously telling him to spill the beans. The Mohawk sighed and said, "Fine, fine. I'll tell you, damn it.

"Our mom was a nurse in training," he began after a few moments of silence, brushing the annoyance away. "And she found our dad near death one day by the shore. No one knows where he came from, or his ship for the matter. All we know was that he had contacted a disease, and everyone on his ship had died of it except for him, who would've met the same fate had our mom not found and saved him."

Camry put a hand to his forehead. "There was... a rumor that the ship was flying a pirate flag, which is why we think that the man Dad was looking for might be, or at least have been somewhere out at sea. But the rumor was never confirmed because the flag was burned before anyone had a good look. Many people said that Mom burned it herself to save Dad, but she denied it.

"And we denied it too because well... we dislike pirates. We were constantly under attack by them.

"Anyway, that disease used to not have a cure, but Dad managed to survive long enough for Mom and the doctors to develop an antidote out of Giant Man-Eating worm plasma, which our island has been using for many vaccines and cures. It took some years before he recovered to a healthy state. The only trouble was that he couldn't remember a thing- he didn't know his own name, where he came from, where he was going. So Mom made him stay and married him, saying that he wasn't fit enough to travel anyway.

"Then Mustang was born, followed by me a couple of years later. He started to remember something around that time.

"He remembered a name. At first, we thought that it was his own, but he kept insisting that it wasn't, but didn't know whom the name belonged to. He had a feeling that he should be looking for this person, and was determined to set sail to look. Our mom stopped him again, saying that she wouldn't go and neither would we kids, and he didn't want to abandon a family, so he stayed.

"This kept repeating throughout the years until Chevy turned eight. He was really stubborn that time, saying that what if that man dies before he could find him, and ended up convincing mom to follow him.

"He was stopped again; Mom got pregnant with Chuckie and died of childbirth, and we never set sail. He died two years later in a pirate attack.

"But we promised him that we'll look for the man in his place, find him and hopefully at least learn who Dad was, and just what business he had with Dad. I didn't want to go because I know we're too weak to sail around Grand Line. Merchant ships rarely came by and to join them, there are so many contracts and whatnot involved that it'd just never work out- the same with the navy. And pirates killed Dad..."

There was an unsettling silence, until Hiroki broke it, "We're not the pirates who killed your father, and according to your telling, I'm very convinced that he might have been a pirate himself."

The good-intention reassurance didn't smooth things any.

"So a name is all you have to go by?" Killer said. "That won't be much of a help."

"It's a very unusual name," Chevy said, and Mustang nodded in agreement.

"There are plenty of people in this world with unusual names." The masked man gestured towards Kidd.

"Speak for yourself!"

"Can you tell us who it is then?" Hiroki inquired.

"Yes," Camry answered, looking up. "The name of the man we're looking for is Laboon."

* * *

**End Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed the quick update! I think everyone should've figured out who the Chuck bros' Dad is, but don't tell them! XD And now we're on our way...

Name: Chuck (Last) Camry (First), named after Toyota Camry, my dad's second-handed wreck (model Camry 2000)... Damn the shitty economy :-(

Also... **Camry is not an OC.**

As the majority of you have figured out by now, he's one of the seven Kidd pirates that Oda-sensei introduced. Though some of you did express confusion as to which Mohawk I'm talking about (there are two of them). If you go to the One Piece wikia and find the article on the crew by putting 'Kidd Pirates' into the search engine, he is the Mohawk guy below Killer, the one without the round sunglasses and has a vertical stripe through each of his eyes (he doesn't have the stripes yet, they come later)... If his hairstyle isn't Mohawk, please correct me, as I thought it is even though it's quite thick.

Age: 25

Eye: Light brown

Hair: Blond, but lighter in color (the lighter shade from his father, in contrast to Mustang's)

Height: Despite being the second oldest, he is the tallest and the brawniest of his brothers. Anyone who saw him for the few seconds in the Anime can probably tell.

Fighting Ability: Stronger than speedy, he wields two boomerangs made out of Sea King bones. Other than that, he keeps a dagger for last minute resort and fights hand-to-hand.

Interests: Fighting, plays the drum, cooking, hiking, camping and arguing with people

Characteristics: If he likes you, he's very friendly and kind. If he dislike you, he doesn't just dislike- he will hate you to the extreme. He's impulsive (no matter what he thinks), over-protective of his family and friends, responsible, proud, conservative and doesn't take insults well. Unlike his older brother, he's super stubborn and completely unreasonable and irrational when it comes to certain things.

One Unique Thing About Him: He's a hopeless romantic.


	32. Kingdom of Bleu

**Author's Note: ** Thanks to _Allycat18, Ghost-kun, doriansburial, ChibiFluffy, Seregunda, Jester310, QuietInsomniac, Msaju17,_ and _yumeniai_ for reviewing!

Yep people, we're talking about the same Laboon. Their reunion will be... quite distant in the future. But what the hell, this is Kidd's (and Killer's) story here, just like One Piece is Luffy's story! Everyone else's endings can wait patiently on their asses! XD

To _ChibiFluffy_ (and the rest of you confused ones out there): their dad was Yorki. I gave it away by describing his facial tattoos in an earlier chapter.

Now for the third...

Name: Chuck (Last) Chevy (First), again after the car. Oh, and Chuck was their mom's maiden name, whom I was really tempted to name Nora last chapter. Chuck Nora...*cough* But I didn't.

**Chevy is not an OC. **He's not as obvious as Camry because I don't know the name of his hairstyle (Hell, he's not obvious at all!)- I don't think there's one, even. If there is, please tell me. But yes, like Camry, he's a CC to some extent. For those of you that watch the Anime, he's the guy who shouted "Boss!" at Kidd just before the Kidd vs. Apoo fight starts. I don't know if he's in the Manga (is Camry in the Manga?). He is the guy right after Bat-chan in the Kidd Pirates article in One Piece wikia with the really dim picture.

Age: 17 ...He looks older.

Eye: Light brown

Hair: Sandy blond. Don't know the style, otherwise I'd be describing it.

Height: In between Canon-Kidd's and Canon-Killer's

Fighting Ability: He uses a sword, but he's more of a planning guy who lay his battlefield with traps more than anything.

Interests: Camping, plays the keyboard, hunting, trapping, outlining new trapping ideas, fishing

Characteristics: He is the most logical and reasonable out of his brothers, and perhaps the most normal person in the crew. He knows boundaries when he sees them, and prefer not to make decisions or get into trouble. Great at obeying orders.

One Unique Thing About Him: He's scared to death of medical needles.

**M-RATED MATERIAL WARNING!** Well, shit, this is one big sex-themed arc here with a spin of romance. However, not for KiddxKiller, which this arc serves more as a trigger for than actually showing them. Limes and sensible materials up ahead with a dash of Yuri. Read at your own risk.

* * *

By the eighth time, doing this seemed almost like a dawn ritual to him. He would slowly open the door, look back and forth twice to check for shadows of his older nakamas, and tip-toe out of the room with stealth until he came upon the main mast. Every time, he'd extend an arm up as high up as he could with his index finger _just _touching it-

"What are you doing?"

The voice made him jump, and he whirled around and paled. "...Hehe, nothing."

Killer snorted unconvincingly at the sight of those eyes darting between him and the red button up above.

"Really," Chuckie tried for the second time. "I wasn't doing nothing."

"That's a double negative," the masked man lectured. "Don't think that I don't catch things like that, brat. Also, I saw you yesterday too, and the day before that, and the day before _that_."

He put his hands behind his back and looked up with big innocent eyes, much to Killer's irritation.

"Not working."

The boy huffed, dejected. "I know," he grumbled.

"Now go back to bed."

* * *

Before Ren's morning greeting in the form of a nerve-wrecking howl could wake him up, Kidd already sensed them approaching the second island. The captain tiredly sat up, teeth clenched as Camry and Mustang screamed from downstairs at the worm to "shut the hell up! It's only five in the morning!" Sadly, nobody got anymore sleep after that little controversy.

_Crack_. The eggshell broke open and the egg oozed onto the flying pan as Hiroki took his cup of decaffeinated coffee. Chuckie chewed a piece of toast wistfully, looking at everyone else. The only non-human being on the ship munched on a plate of house-shaped cookies, rather pleased with herself by the commotion just caused.

"The island's in sight," Mustang said as he came into the room. "It's really strange; from what I can see with our binoculars, there are blue-leaf trees everywhere! It's really beautiful! Like the perfect vacation spot!" he gushed. "There's a giant tree of blue leaves in the dead center of the islands, and the cities surrounding it are coated with the leaves and trees!"

"...Are you done," Kidd snapped.

"Ah yes, but you might want to take a look and stop before we approach too close."

Their shipwright nodded and followed him out.

_Crack._ A second egg onto the pan.

At the same time, Kidd heard the sails being folded outside, and frowned.

Were they there already? He got his answer soon enough as the two returned.

"Why did we stop?" Killer asked, putting down his morning read.

"The leaves are beautiful... But that's not what's important. There appears to be a kingdom on this island," Hiroki reported. "And a rather large one at that, allied with the World Government judging by the seagull flag beneath their own. If we go straight for it, we'll arrive at a harbor near a populated city, which won't be wise, considering the amount of marine ships I see and royal guards on watch there. We need a disguise before we dock."

The captain scowled as Camry set a plate of breakfast in front of him. "That's troublesome."

"So is messing with the marines," the shipwright pointed out.

"But what disguise?" Chevy asked.

"We need to cover up our Jolly Roger," Killer said and nodded towards the previous speaker. "You, draw us a proper-looking business flag."

"Oi, we're going in as merchants?" Kidd complained, not happy with the idea at all. It sounded degrading to him.

"Do we have a choice?" Of course, they didn't. "We're only staying as long as we need to for you to set, and who knows how long that might be.

"Besides, this is the least of our worries. We're out of money too."

And that woke just about everyone up.

"What?" Kidd snarled with disbelief.

"Oi, we're nearly out of flour and sugar! How could we be out of money at a time like this?" Camry shouted from his place near the stove as the other three brothers broke out in talks amongst themselves. A hand slamming down on the table silenced them all, and they turned to their captain as he stood up.

"I thought your bastard of a father left a lot of money!" he said to Killer. "Where did that all go?"

"Everything from that time came to about twenty million beri," the masked man answered. "Which happened _well_ over a month ago. With the supplies we need, the gadgets we ended up paying for the ship that the older ship wasn't able to provide, plus furniture, fuel, and other things easily ate it up."

"But what about that asshole then? I thought that his ship would be loaded with goods!"

"Actually," Hiroki said. "He's pretty broke. I was able to hunt down no more than two million beri on his ship while taking it apart, which we ended up spending. There might be more on the men we killed, but I didn't check the dead bodies. It's mostly trinkets that we got as loot."

Kidd's face twitched at that report, and he glared at the air before turning to his last hope. "What about you guys then? Surely you have some saved up."

The brothers glanced at each other, shaking their heads.

"We did, but it wasn't much, so we donated it to the townspeople whose houses got burned before we join the crew," Chuckie said.

"And even if we didn't, our savings wouldn't help either; I was the only one out of us who had a real job," Camry added on.

The redhead groaned inwardly. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"We could sell the iron below the deck..." Chevy suggested.

Mustang shook his head. "That won't bring much, not to mention that we'd need to find someone willing to buy scraps," he said, defeating the idea, and turned to Hiroki. "You also told me that this ship needs interior and exterior decorating and accessorizing, which will be quite expensive. We need quick money."

The room fell in silence.

"We aren't... We aren't going to plunder the island, right?" Chuckie asked nervously.

"That's pointless," the shipwright said. "We'd end up losing more than we gain, if we gain any at all..." An idea suddenly struck him. "Hold on, Killer-san, how much do we have left?"

"180,000 beri," the masked man answered.

Kidd's suspicion heightened as Hiroki's unreadable face suddenly melted into a relief smile. "That should be enough. Draw us a pseudo flag, Chevy-kun. How about we dock, Sencho?"

* * *

The Kidd pirates Jolly Roger was nowhere to be seen by the time _Maria_ hit the harbor. Immediately, guards rushed over to them, questioning their origin and intentions, to which Mustang identified themselves as a scouting ship from a trading corporation in South Blue to see about extending the business into Grand Line. There was a docking fee of 50,000 beri, to which they grudgingly paid, and finally were left alone.

Kidd emerged from his room a new man, much to everyone else's surprise.

"...That's a nice coat," Camry complimented as his captain marched proudly from the floor up down to the deck in the red, furry, spike-decorated coat.

"Weren't you wearing it a while back, then you took it off?" Hiroki asked.

"It was dragging on the floor and didn't look as good," he explained, swaggering, admiring how the end of the coat was now inches above the ground as oppose to before. The perks of puberty.

Killer watched him and mentally face-palmed.

In the end, after a draw of straws between the brothers, Chevy got the short one and had to take up guarding duty along with Ren. The booby-trapper watched his nakamas leaving the ship, and turned to their pet. "Well, looks like it's just the two of us, girl," he said to the worm, who barked back.

* * *

Kidd still did not trust that damn yakuza.

On the surface, one would think of Shinoda Hiroki as a polite, civil and sentimental man who valued honesty. However, deep down inside, the captain knew that his shipwright was a completely insane lunatic who wouldn't think twice about pushing them into danger's way if needed to, filled with the uttermost screwed up morals and reasons- the kind of person that you won't trust to not kill you. He just didn't look the part.

Which is exactly why when the group stopped in front of a glass door that Kidd knew there was something wrong with that smile. He didn't have to read the sign above the door to know that this was a stupid idea.

"'Capital Casino,'" Killer read with doubts, and frowned beneath his mask. "Oi, this _is_ the last of what we have."

"Don't worry," the black-haired man assured.

"Are you sure, Hiroki-san?" Mustang asked with even more uncertainty. "Gambling might not be the answer."

"You understand how deep in shit you'll be if you lose our money, don't you?" Kidd threatened.

"I've never been inside a casino before..." Chuckie muttered to himself, staring beyond the glass with glee.

"Trust me, I won't lose a single beri, you'll see," Hiroki said with the widest smirk that Kidd had seen on him thus far, and placed a hand on one of the door handles. "I was a yakuza. What good of a yakuza would I be if I don't know how to gamble?" And he pushed the door open.

Two hosts in black suits and dark sunglasses greeted them with bows the moment they set foot in. Chandeliers hung above, shining bright, homey light. As far as his eyes could see, rows and rows of machines stood in neat formations, their seats filled with players, while in front of them were amass of tables where richer gamblers pooled their money. To their left was a food court, and to their right, a long counter with several employees, counting and sorting out tokens and organizing prizes. Overall, the casino was lively and noisy.

People eyed them as the pirates passed by, making their ways to the counter.

"Welcome to Capital Casino. My name is Sari, at your service," the female behind the desk introduced. "Your meal is free as long as you play here. Our token varieties are here on the list, the least being 50 beri and the most up to 1,000,000 beri. To play the our machines, you need 500 beri coins, however, which you can exchange with bills by the money exchanger to your left."

Kidd wandered off without hearing the token purchase, suspiciously glancing all over the room full of snide, cigarette-smoking men. He got none of what they were doing, and didn't understand why any of them would waste time on silly games like that, betting money on outcomes of some petty cards.

"How pathetic," he muttered under his breath as some obnoxious shithead screamed a string of curses, threw down his card, tokens and money before stomping out of the place. Laughter followed him as he did so.

"That man lost millions," Killer said beside him. "Pathetic or not, this is easy money."

He nodded in agreement. "Easy money to both win and lose."

And a cheer ruptured from the table behind them. The two pirates turned around to see what the clamor was all about to find a crowd gathered around their shipwright and a house dealer, who was counting out money, looking confused.

Kidd narrowed his eyes. "What the hell?"

"I can't believe it!" a man near him exclaimed. "He's been winning nonstop for the past five minutes!"

_Really?_ He thought as the dealer dealt out new cards.

"We don't have to worry about losing money, then," Killer said, stepping forward, breaking him from his observation. "I'm going for a walk around."

"Oi, don't just leave-"

"There you are, Boss," Mustang's voice pulled him back before he could go after his first mate. The captain turned around and scowled. His unpleasant face was ignored.

"What the fuck do you want?" he asked, looking down at Chuckie, who had a giant cookie in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other hand.

The boy looked right up to him and held out the cookie. "Want a bite?"

"No I don't want a bite!" he barked back.

"Good, 'cause I'm not giving you any." And, like he'd won some sort of a fight, the shrimp munched off a huge chunk of the baked good, snickering smugly. Seeing this, the redhead, brought a light fist down on the Afro-head before turning to the older brother, whom he noticed to be holding a sack of something. "OW!"

"What is it?"

"Hiroki-san told me to give you this bag of 500 beri coins. He said to use every single one of them on the 777 slot machines until they're gone," the Rockabilly man answered, thrusting the sack to him. "You need help with it?"

A vein popped on Kidd's forehead and he leaned forward, giving the man a cold look.

"Help?" he echoed. "Do I look stupid to you?"

Ten minutes, three circles around the casino and trying to read the words on the machines for the hundredth time later...

"Listen! Here's what you do," Mustang began instructing. "It's so fucking easy that any idiots will be able to follow... WILL YOU PAY ATTENTION, BOSS? AND STOP YOUR GIGGLING, CHUCKIE! So, as I was saying, you take one coin, insert it into this little slot, wait two seconds for the coin to drop and press the button."

Kidd glared at the gaming machine like all the fault of the world was its, and took out a beri coin from the sack. Following the instruction of the gunner, he put it into the vertical slot, heard the clinking of the nickel coin hitting the bottom, and pressed the button.

"Now what?" he snapped as the three columns of pictures and numbers on the screen began spinning at an insanely fast pace.

"You wait and see if you get the three of the same picture or number in a row," Mustang explained. "If you do, that means you've won. Though it is extremely unlikely-"

The sign above the screen suddenly blinked alive, flashing the word "JACKPOT!" Seconds later, a load of 500 beri coins tumbled from the machine, spilling into a small metal pot at the end.

"What happened?" Kidd asked, unintentionally sounding stupid.

"You won, dumbass," Chuckie pointed out dryly, earning another smack.

"And?"

"You keep playing until this whole bag of 500 beri coins are gone," Mustang answered, pointing at the sack in his captain's grip. "Hiroki-san just told us to take the money that you won."

The little boy nodded. "And he gave us a really big bag for it."

Kidd seethed. "So now _he's_ bossing me around too, huh? Well, you can tell him to go to hell! I'm not doing it!"

"You'll make Killer-san happy," Chuckie offered.

* * *

Chuckie didn't know why, but for whatever reason, Killer-san's name seemed to have quite an effect on Boss-man, who did not smack him this time, but merely froze, his expression pensive as if he was having an inner debate with himself before finally scowling and taking out a handful of coins.

The boy considered himself a master blackmailer, having known his friends and enemies' (_watch out, Jacob)_ private thoughts, weaknesses and secrets inside out in a way that they never knew he would. Having talent for such thing made it very easy for him to get what he wanted; ice cream, candy, or that giant stuffed duckies he'd wanted so badly for his seventh birthday.

However, Boss-man was just too easy.

Of course, his threats could not be backed up half of the time, seeing how Killer-san wouldn't care much, and would probably give him a hard punch or two for being a "little spoiled nitwit." That didn't make the threats any inefficient. Besides, it would only be a matter of time before he discovers Killer-san's weaknesses as well-

"Oi, Chuckie," his older brother called, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Your ice cream is melting."

A blink. "Oh... Oh yeah." And he happily stuffed the rest of the frozen treat into his mouth. "Ow mush ee ee woom? (How much did he win?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Mustang scolded before turning to their captain, who was pressing the button, obviously irritated by this point. "I don't get it either. A gaming machine's chance of winning is supposed one in thousands, but Boss hasn't lost yet."

"Maybe he's extremely lucky." the younger suggested, munching on his cookie as Kidd won for the fifth time in a row.

"Still..."

"Excuse me, sir!" A new voice interrupted them, stopping Kidd just before he inserted another coin. They turned and saw three men in the casino uniforms, the one in the middle nervously laughing, rubbing his hands together. "Sorry, but we think there might be something wrong with this 777 slot machine. We are kindly asking you to move to another machine while we examine the glitches."

Kidd gave the man a cold look and moved left another machine.

"So it's a broken one?" Chuckie muttered as they carried it away.

"Explains a lot."

A flash caught their eyes.

"Oi," the redhead called to them. "I won again. Get the damn money already."

"...Maybe it's him."

* * *

Meanwhile, after watching an interesting performance of a man swearing his heart out at Hiroki because the shipwright had won the last of his money, and said man being dragged out of the casino by guards when they sensed the one-side fight beginning to turn violent, Killer finally decided to leave the scene. Maybe it was just his paranoia acting up again, but he had a feeling that Kidd and him were already targeted, and the only thing stopping the security guards was the fact that they were inside a place of mass people, and a pirate chase would scare off customers.

That, and the fact that Hiroki's unbeatable winning streak seemed to be taking a toll on the house and the rest of the guest players. There were less and less people willing to challenge him now save for the obsessed, proud rich men who refused to admit defeat.

"...Isn't there anything else for me to do besides pressing a damn button?"

_And there's Kidd._

He stopped.

"No, there's not! Just press the button already, Sencho!" Mustang said, equally ticked.

"Now _you're_ telling me what to do too?" Kidd snarled back, somehow only sensing the lack of respect rather than the obvious frustration that the Rockabilly man was expressing. "I refuse to press that button again! This is a joke! Why am I the one that has to press the button. _You_ press it!"

"But... Oh fine, I'll press it!" He did.

The columns spun, and seconds later, the sign above the screen blinked "LOSER!"

"See?" Mustang pointed. "This is why Hiroki-san said you have to do it!"

Kidd frowned. "Maybe you pressed the button wrong?"

"HOW CAN YOU PRESS A BUTTON WRONG?" Mustang barked, causing Kidd to send him flying, crashing back into several machines.

"DON'T SCREAM AT ME!"

Five minutes later, they were both kicked out.

Killer sighed. _Of course._

* * *

_Before we leave,_ one pissed Kidd thought as he stomped on a pile of blue leaves. _I'm going to burn this damn casino to the ground! How dare they kick me out!_

"Wow..." Chuckie whispered in awe, staring, mesmerized, into the large bag of beri bill stacks as they walked out onto the streets. "This is fucking _awesome_! I've never seen this much money in my life!"

_The only reason I haven't done so already is because that damn pedophile held me back from it! I'll make them regret it!_ Violent images of flame dancing around said place flashed like wild through his mind.

"We went in with 130,000 beri, and walked out with over thirty million..." Camry muttered, clearly impressed.

_Besides, the pedo started it first! Who is he to yell at me! I'm his captain!_

Chuckie's eyes began to sparkle the longer he stared at the money, and with great effort, the boy torn his eyes from the bag and turned to up Hiroki, flashing the shipwright a bright grin. "Teach me how to gamble!" he demanded.

"Not in a million years!" Mustang scolded.

_I will-_

"Stop glaring behind you, Kidd. You deserved that," Killer cut him off in mid-thought.

"What?" the captain hissed. "Are you saying that that was my fault?"

"I am."

Kidd opened his mouth, as if about to say something back, then closed it again. Chuckie quietly snickered at the face, which reminded him quite much of a goldfish.

Hiroki were not leading in the direction of the dock, Killer had sensed. Without asking, the masked man knew why; they had been spot, and going back to the ship with Kidd not set yet only meant trouble. So the shipwright guided them through the city, twisting and turning until they managed to get to a crowd-less part of the city- a street between an abandoned warehouse and a cemetery.

"Why did we stop?" Camry asked with a frown.

There was an eerie pause, saved for the gentle rustling of trees from the graveyard.

"Already?" Kidd growled, catching on.

"Already what?" Chuckie hugged the bag of money closer to himself.

_Whoosh!_

_Clank!_ Killer's right scythe met the sword as quickly as the attacker had jumped from the shadows, surprising the man as he sent him flying back. Immediately, a dozen others appeared out of nowhere, fully equipped with guns and swords, heading with speed at the group.

Mustang brought out his two pistols. Camry had his dagger, shielding their little brother, who crouched, hugging the bag of money like his life depended on it. Killer had only one scythe out, clearing out the enemy almost effortlessly. Kidd didn't bother with his power as a hoard of them came charging at him with swords, and crushed them one by one with a single kick or punch.

Only Hiroki did not attack, resorting to dodging in the middle of this fight, an unease look on his face; he'd only killed one, and seeing the man fell over was all it took for him to stop.

There was something wrong about this group of attackers.

For one thing, they were not marines, but they were also not the kingdom's royal guards- the two groups one would most likely thought to attack pirates. It could be assumed that they were bounty hunters, but something told him that they weren't. But most of all, there was a symbol that almost resembled a skull embroidered on that now-dead man's breast pocket, a Jolly Roger which he'd sworn to have seen somewhere before.

More had came for them, nearly surrounding him and his crew, all with guns pointed. This formation, too, was familiar... like how the Shinoda-Kai operated when killing their victims.

The guns all clicked at once, readied to shoot. Kidd lifted a hand, on the verge of activating his Devil Fruit power, and-

"HALT!" a new voice called out.

The shipwright's eyes widened at the voice, and all color drained from his face as his nakamas froze and tensed around him.

_Impossible!_

"Who the hell are you?" Kidd snarled coldly at the approaching, swaggering man with slick, blond hair in trench coat, whom their attackers began gathering behind.

"You..." Hiroki said, turning towards said man with a stoic face, who looked back at all of them with a bright smile that only served to rub their nerves.

"So I was having my morning coffee!" the man began in all his casualness, strolling over to the pirates as if he was a long time friend. The masked man's grip on his scythe twitched noticeably, but even that didn't falter him. "When I received news from my casino manager that my casino was in danger of being out-gambled by some unknown traveler. Naturally, I was curious," he said, walking in circles around them. "'Who,' I asked myself. 'Who can out-gamble my best workers? He must be exceedingly skilled in the art of cards.' So I sent my people to investigate this strange... group. And lo' and behold, what have we got here?"

He scanned them with twinkling eyes, and repeated, "What we got here? Quite an unusual... combination indeed."

"How about you shut the fuck up," Kidd said, giving the talkative man a menacing glare, only to get a friendly smile in return.

"Ah," the man said, arms spreading open in a welcoming manner. "You must be Monsieur Eustass Kidd. Yes, yes... my manager did informed me that there was a pirate crew present, and how the captain was breaking slot machines one after another at a rather astonishing pace. That was you, wasn't it?

"Tell me. How's your stay so far at the lovely kingdom of Bleu? A summer island, and you came at just the right time to admire the great beauty of our autumn. The gentle breeze and the breath-taking sight of blue leaves is breath-taking, don't you think? I do deeply apologize for the actions of my incompetent underlings; I merely ordered them to track you down and return to me once they did so, but sadly, they misunderstood my order. I beg your forgiveness." He held out a hand for the pirate captain to shake, only pulling it back after minutes of Kidd glaring at him, completely neglecting the civil offer.

"Well... I suppose forgiveness might be a... little early to ask, as I'd probably given you and your crew quite a shock," the man continued. "Nevertheless, any friends of Hiro-chan are friends of mine. I invite you all to my House of Seas and Stars until your Log Pose set. Does my offer sound pleasing to you?"

"'Hiro-chan'?" That could only be one person. Kidd narrowed his eyes and turned to his shipwright. "You know this bastard?"

"Oh, pardon my manners. I was so overjoyed to see my baby cousin that I forgot to introduce myself!" the bastard interrupted before Hiroki could get in a word. "I am Francisco Rosier, second cousin to Hiro-chan; our paternal grandmothers are sisters."

* * *

"This is delicious!" Mustang praised, greedily wolfing down his plate. "Too bad Chevy can't be here!"

"Moomoom," Chuckie agreed, his words muffled by the amount of food in his mouth.

"It must be nice to have rich relatives, Hiroki-san," Camry said, eating with more table manner than the other two.

Booming over all of the Chuck brothers' comment was Rosier's laughter. The man just couldn't seem to stop. "Hahahaha! I really wasn't sure it could be you, Hiro-chan! I thought they'd at least forced you or kidnapped you against your will!" he said as Hiroki gingerly touched his shortened little finger. "But it's true! Takamaru's son willingly joined a pirate crew! Unbelievable, unbelievable! Hahahaha! Tell me Kidd-dono, what did you do to convince him?"

"I did nothing," Kidd answered through gritted teeth.

"Unbelievable! Hahahaha!" the man exclaimed for the umpteenth time that day before sitting up and taking a gulp of white wine, which instantly smoothed him. "Now that I got that over with... Ah, the wonders possible in this world. It's amazing!"

"What are you doing here in Grand Line?" was the first question out of Hiroki's mouth. He touched none of the food, as neither did his captain or Killer-san.

"Oh I've been here for years. You should know that, Hiro-chan-"

"While you're at it, I ask you to quit with the pet name, Rosier-san. I am twenty-three years old, and nobody but Maki-neesan calls me that."

Rosier waved it off. "No problem. Speaking of Maki, how is she?"

"She doing fine. She's getting married soon."

"Is she?" the cousin asked. "That's wonderful! With an attitude like hers, I was thinking that she might never find a husband! Her looks must make up a lot for it. I remember her the last time I met her; the most beautiful young lady with the nastiest, most venomous mouth my ears had the misfortune to hear. Now that I think about it, it's been years since we last see each other!"

"The last time we saw each other was also the first time we met," Hiroki pointed out.

"Good point." Rosier snapped his fingers. "Wine?"

"No."

Kidd glared.

Killer sat unmoved.

"Yes, it was," he continued where they left off. "At the family gathering. You were only twelve at the time." He turned to Kidd and Killer. "Did you know? He was a tiny little thing back then, barely coming up to my waist. I nearly stepped on him because he was so short! A lot changed in eleven years!"

"I was sitting," Hiroki corrected. His crew mates had never heard him sounding so annoyed. In the background, a light-bulb went off in Chuckie's head. "And you weren't suppose to be at that family gathering in the first place. You're not a Shinoda."

"Now that's not right," Rosier said. "Wasn't there that Yasha-guy there as well. Besides, we all know that the only reason why there are some... oh, hard feelings between me and the rest of the family was because I apparently broke Takamaru-san's favorite vase by accident, which I was merely trying to correct the position of. My intentions were nothing but good!"

"Yasha-san was a brother-in-law of Papa from Ane-san's side, and that vase was a four hundred year old antique you broke. It was a priceless family heirloom." Somehow, a broken vase didn't sound like the only reason why there were "hard feelings."

"I was sorrowful..."

There was a tense silence.

The brothers finished the last of the meal, sneaking glares at the four, wondering what the hell was going on.

Rosier suddenly clapped, catching all their attentions.

"Since we're all men here, I think we might all enjoy a little... entertainment. What do you say?"

They answered nothing.

Seeing this, Rosier took the liberty of making the decision for them. He smiled and clapped his hands again. "Rozara! Bring it out!"

At his command, one of the walls opened, startling the guests. They shot each other uncertain looks as a woman with a head of wild black curls emerged out, dressed head to toe in a tight, revealing, black leather that hugged her curves and emphasized her cleavage, dragging something out with her. Chuckie's eyes were covered as soon as they realized what it was.

"Wait, what's going on?" the boy asked, trying to pry Mustang's hands off. "Aniki, what the hell? I can't see!"

"It" was another woman. Younger, hair as blue as the leaves on this island in similar blue leather outfit. She was blindfold, a gag in her mouth, cuffed, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, crawling on her knees after Rozara as the chain yanked her. A small vibration between her legs seemed to be shaking her entire body, which shaken even more as the older woman ran a thin whip around her collared neck. The crew watched with disbelief as the older woman grasped her collar, brought her up to face level and harshly tugged an ear with her teeth, licking the earlobe, causing the younger to choke a silent cry.

At the time same the room went cold.

"What the hell is that?" Killer snarled, stand up. The face behind the mask had morphed into one of utter rage and disgust at the perversion and obvious display of rape. One hand clenched around a scythe handle.

Rosier frowned. "Did I offend you, Monsieur Killer?"

"I'm asking you, what the hell is this suppose to mean?" The masked man motioned angrily at the freak show for the second time as the temperature dropped at an abnormal pace to the point where it was nearly suffocating for some of them.

"Why, this is the House of Seas and Stars!" the man answered with a relaxed smirk, holding up a finger up in Rozara's direction to stop her. She dropped the blindfolded women back to the ground and stood by, looking slightly annoyed that she didn't get to continue. "The harem of dangerous pleasure, for all clients' needs and kinks. Rozara here is my personal assistant and the top 'Master' as you can call her, and that 'Slave' on the ground..."

"Fresh and young delivered from Sabaody Archipelago," Rozara spoke up, her deep voice held a slight purr to it. Her eyes raked over each and every guest with careful precision, and smirked. "I see no reason why any of you won't be please. Lolita is a wonderful performer; I tested her out backstage myself."

Killer was close to wrenching the scythe from his side just as Hiroki stopped him with an arm before a fight could ensue.

"In case you haven't notice yet, there is a child in the room, Rosier-san," the shipwright reminded. "I understand if this is your trade, but please be cautious around some people who are not into things like this."

There was an even longer silence this time as the two cousins looked at one another.

"Very well," Rosier said. "Take her away, Rozara. She'll be our dinner party's entertainment item instead."

The BDSM Master didn't seem happy to hear that, but she obeyed her employer's words and tugged on the chain, whispering, "Come now, Lolita."

Killer slowly, but unwillingly back off, his anger not cooled the slightest as the women disappeared back into the wall, which closed soon after. The heavy atmosphere did not loosen, and Mustang did not take his hands off Chuckie's eyes every after five minutes, as if some illusion of that sight might linger.

Casual chats slowly started up after some minutes.

And everyone missed the enraged expression on Camry's face.

* * *

**End Author's Note:** For those of you wondering, no I have never been inside a real casino either. I did do research on what it might be like, but no doubt I got things wrong. Feel free to flame my ass to your hearts content on the mistakes, though some of them are deliberately tweaked to fit this world. In any case, the casino part is over now. Phew. And all I can say for this chapter is... I wish I had taken French, but I didn't. Stupid me.

Name: Chuck (Last) Chuckie (First) I was NOT being creative...

Age: 9

Eye: Light brown

Hair: Sandy Blond, Afro-style

Height: Um... I want to be logic about this, but I noticed that in One Piece, the kids' heights are really hard to determine. So A little above Kidd's waist, and still growing?

Fighting Ability: He has an iron bat, and he can swing it, so strength is one. On the other hand, he's a nine year old, making his "great strength" only great when comparing it to other kids. However, he's got a smart mouth and that usually helps him out of trouble.

Interests: Camping, plays the guitar, making fun of people, playing with Ren, stealing food from Camry's secret stash (damn it, I forgot to mention Camry's sweet tooth in his profile. Oh well, it's not _that _important), fishing, confusing people, blackmailing people into doing his deeds.

Characteristics: If he can get away doing something, he'll do it. Why do you think he dares to call Kidd names when his brothers don't? Because he knew that being only nine, he is allow certain privileges, namely calling his captain names and running to Killer or one of the others, who will either plead Kidd into forgiving him, or if Killer, give Kidd a couple of kicks and a long lecture for getting into a fight with a nine year old (Chuckie might earn a couple of smacks himself too). He is sly, daring, gullible and used to getting his way.

One Unique Thing About Him: He used to shit in his pants because he was too lazy to go to the potty until age eight, when Mustang threatened to put him back in diapers. True story: this was my little brother's story up until two months ago. My mom went to Walmart and bought an extra-large diaper. He saw it, and haven't crapped in his pants since then. Difference: my little bro is seven, like that's any better. -_-'


	33. Men Will Be Men

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Skadi Skadi no mi, Allycat18, Msaju17, ChibiFluffy, QuietInsomniac, yumeniai, doriansburial, Dogychou,_ and _VegaVertigo_ for reviewing!

Sorry for the extremely late update. Summer vacation is coming to an end for me and I just realized something very important: I have not completed my summer assignment that will be due the first day of class back. So right after I finished the last chapter, I was frantic over it and... Well, I did half before I realized that I better update the story too. Hopefully, I can get this arc done before school starts. Damn school. -_-'

Another thing... Fucking blueberry, the newest chapter... I face-palmed when I finished reading it, for various reasons. One, the series is going to be dragged out reeeaaally long now, isn't it? And two, Kidd not going in the New World prepared... He's so going to get his butt kicked in canon. Let's hope I catch up before that happens- which is why I'm kind of liking the extra "two year", but hating it at the same time because it ruined an entire, well-planned arc. Oh well, I have time.

This time, we have the last of the new crew members. Many of you would see it as ridiculous for me to do a profile on her but she's getting one nonetheless. Yes, she does count as one of the thirteen, since Chopper counts too. :P

Name: Ren

Age: Four months old, nearly five. Giant Man-Eating worms have an average lifespan of ten years.

Eyes: They're big, black and beady with, strangely enough, eyelids

Hair: Doesn't have any.

Height: Or Length. As of now, she's five feet and three inches long and one foot in diameter. Giant Man-Eating worms grow really big and usually hit growing stage after year one, so she's going to be a lot bigger by the end of the story.

Fighting Ability: None yet unless you count chomping someone's gluteus maximus, but wait till she grows up.

Interests: House-shaped things, playing with Chuckie, sleeping, sunbathing, camping, anything that smells good to her, shiny and sparkly things, and Killer.

Characteristics: Like the rest of her species, Ren is very expressive and is not afraid to show you how she feels disregarding your liking or disliking of her. She'll do almost anything for food, and is optimistic as hell. Think dolphins' excessive happiness and childishness, and times that by ten.

One Unique Thing About Her: Well, it's not uniquely _her_ but... Giant Man-Eating worms are all referred to as "she"; there is no "he" in the species. That is because, according to the people of Campbell Float, naturally-born hermaphrodites (which all worms in the worm family are), are considered female.

Just a note on the Mature Content warning last chapter; it goes for the entire arc.

* * *

Kidd was confused. He saw no reason to have reacted as against as Killer had.

Firstly, he had no idea what the two women were doing. He did not get Rosier's "Master" and "Slave" explanation. How was slavery applied to such a situation? The closest and most convincing guess to Killer's anger was the way they dressed; it was what he'd been taught as perverted and shameless; the excessive and unacceptable showing of skin.

Secondly, he was confused, because he felt as if he knew what was going on, but just couldn't find the right words or the right thoughts. He racked his mind, a frown on his face as the small talks started around him, and remained silent, thinking. For some reason, he was reminded of his strange dreams, which had been getting more and more vivid and frequent lately.

Kidd felt disturbed.

"...Dinner party?"

"Did I tell you? It's a seasonal special I present as the manager of Capital Casino and House of Seas and Stars where I throw an elaborate ball and invite all royal subjects of the court; the dukes, the counts, the generals, His Majesty King Louis XX's advisory cabinet and the King himself, though, sadly, he's always too busy to attend my events," Rosier explained cheerfully. "However, I'll be happy to introduce you to our prince and future ruler, Prince Louis XXI! Him and I are long time acquaintances so no doubt he'd been happy to meet a family and friends of mine!"

"Is that so?" Hiroki said.

The pirate captain found himself sneering. _Who the hell are you calling your friends?_

A loud sliding of chair caught all their attention, and they looked up to see a standing Camry, whose previous expression had worn off, replaced by one of stoic indifference. "I'd like to explore your manor, if that's possible," he requested.

"Certainly, Monsieur Camry!" the man enthusiastically replied, smiling. "I will send for a guide if you would give me a moment-"

"That won't be needed," the Mohawk man interrupted. "I'd like to do it by myself, unless that's a problem?"

"Of course, go right ahead!"

Camry nodded and exited the room. Kidd's eyes glanced over at the cook's leaving form with suspicion.

"Now as I was saying just a moment ago," Rosier continued with no delay. "The prince! Why, I might take you to have a good look at the palace, if I can convince him! The garden is a wondrous sight to behold..."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Mustang and Chuckie stepped out of yet another shop, arms loaded with goods and teeth gnawing on bag handles.

"Damn Camry-niisan," the nine year old muttered, struggling with his load. "I knew it! He ditched us so he doesn't have to shop with us! 'I want to explore the manor', my ass!"

"Damn right he did!" his older brother agreed.

"Mmmm..." Chuckie hummed, having nothing else to do. "Oi, Aniki, are we going back to the ship, or the manor?"

"Who knows? Manor first?"

It would take about a week for a Log Pose to set on the Island of Bleu, they learned. Meaning that they'll have to stay in the City of Fleur, the capital of the Kingdom, for six more days. Already, Killer seemed determined to get off this island as soon as possible, much to Chuckie's puzzlement. For some reason unknown to the boy, the masked man hated this place. It might have something to do with what happened earlier, which his older brother covered his eyes for- Killer-san sounded really angry.

He'd tried to weasel what happened out of Mustang, but stop after the second try.

In fact, now that he thought about, _Hiroki-san_ was acting quite... unfriendly for Hiroki-san. He didn't understand. That Rosier-guy was nice- he'd offered them a place to stay, yet everyone seemed to dislike him.

He was so entrenched in his thought that he didn't notice himself starting to wander away from Mustang.

"Oi, Chuckie!" the older brother called, and grasped him by the arm. "Don't go off, you'll get lost!"

The boy scowled. "I won't."

They walked for a couple of block, hand in hand.

"Look, it's another one."

The brothers at first paid no heed.

"Shameless! Why isn't anyone stopping that man?"

Chuckie glanced around to see what that speaker was talking about, and found the woman to be looking straight at them with an angry look on her face. He frowned. _What? Did we do something wrong? ...She doesn't think that we shoplifted or anything. We got receipts!_

"What a disgusting display, kidnapping a child in board daylight," a man whispered loudly. "Ever since that Rosier-bastard came to our kingdom, this place's been plagued with perverts and pedophiles!"

"Should we get the royal guards?"

"Baka, like those cowards would do anything. That bastard is all buddy-buddy with the prince!"

An egg suddenly smacked Mustang right in the face. "GET OFF OUR STREETS, YOU LOWLY CHILD MOLESTER!"

Mustang irritatingly cleaned the egg off his face. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!" he screeched at the thrower. "YOU HAVE HORRIBLE AIM!"

"Protect our children! There's a pedophile spot! Kid," A middle-aged mother yelled for Chuckie, arms wide open. "Come here, we'll take you to safety!"

"Pedophile...?" Mustang echoed, then narrowed his eyes behind his black shades and pulled his stunned little brother closer. "Chuckie, watch out!" he warned in all seriousness. "There's a pedophile on the loose!"

The boy blinked up at him. "...But Aniki, _you_ are the pedo that they're talking about."

The man's eyebrows furrowed as leaves of rotten cabbages missed his head. "I'm...?" he pointed to himself. "That's impossible! How dare you say that, Chuckie, you know I'm innocent!"

Chuckie growled with annoyance. "Of course I know! You just look like one!"

"I do _not_ look at a pedophile!"

"Yes you do!" the younger countered. Three zucchinis flew by. "You dress like one, your hairstyle's like one, and you were holding my hand. Obviously you gave people the wrong impression!"

"Shut up, your accusation is as stupid as the captain! Where did you get that ridiculousness from?" Mustang shouted back. A bag of frozen peas and carrots hit his back.

"What?" Chuckie screamed. "Don't compare me to Boss-man. You've just insulted my far superior intelligence quotient!"

"You got no intelligence quotient!" Turning back to the crowd, he shouted, "OI, STOP THROWING STUFF AT ME! YOU'RE MESSING UP MY HAIR! CHUCKIE HERE IS MY BROTHER, YOU JACKASSES!"

_Bam! _A piano landed in front of them.

"Shit, let's get out of here!"

* * *

That night, the great hall of House of Seas and Stars was burst with conversations and dance music. Men in tuxedos and other forms of exotic wears swaggered around the room with beautiful women in cocktail dresses by their sides. Mustang took one look at the strippers pole-dancing on the stage and various poles, and dragged Chuckie away. Kidd kept himself by Killer's side, alert and nervous at the icy aura his first mate was emitting.

It was the angriest he'd ever felt Killer be.

"Let's go," he said to the blond. "It's not like we have to be here."

"I don't trust leaving our shipwright in that fuckface's presence," Killer growled back, nodding towards Hiroki, who was sitting by a table, playing a card game with his cousin. Kidd watched as Rosier laid down his hand, tossing his head back, and laughed. In his pocket he reached, and pulled out a wad of bills, handing them to Hiroki, who merely smiled back.

As soon as the Chuck brothers had dispersed earlier, Rosier asked his cousin for a game. Now about the hundredth round of poker and millions of beri later, the dinner party was in placed. The older man gestured the younger to get up, taking back all the cards and setting the deck on a tray of a passing maid.

"Enjoying yourselves, gentlemen?" he greeted, coming up to the pirates. "Hiroki's card skills are truly marvelous!" He shook his head, as if disappointed in himself. "I haven't won once today! Can you believe it?"

"I can see it for myself," Killer said coldly.

"Certainly you can," Rosier replied. "But it's another thing to go up against him! Do you like cards, Monsieur Killer? Perhaps you would fancy a play with me? I am quite the Faro player if I say so myself, and my luck is pretty good with roulette..."

"I don't do child play," the masked man said.

He received a casual wave. "Of course, of course. I had a feeling that you don't enjoy certain things that I do, and that's all right and much to be expected. If you will allow me, you and your captain- Kidd-dono- and Cousin-" To which he motioned to the shipwright. "I will be happy to- Oh!" The three pirates looked at each other as he began looking over their shoulders. "Pardon me, will you gentlemen all wait here for one minute?"

A second later, his voice boomed over all others. "_Bienvenue, mon prince_!"

Kidd turned around to see him shaking hands with a fat squat with a crown on his head, accessorized with two women, each by his side.

"Who the hell is the greasy meatball?" the captain taunted with disdain.

"I would not expect anything less... unsightly," Killer sneered as Rosier and the royalty talked on, the man leading him to the pirates.

"Please do watch your words and actions when conversing with a monarch's son. Letting this ending nasty at such a time is the last thing we need," their shipwright advised. "This kingdom is an ally of the World Government after all."

The masked man said nothing, but Kidd could already feel a murderous aura coming at the mention of the World Government. He knew exactly what was going on in his first mate's mind right now; a shameless pervert, and part of the World Government at the same time? Just what kill could be better than the two things he hated the most?

Killer's anger almost made him act out, but he restrained it down as Prince Louis XXI approached them with his wobbling little chicken drumsticks for legs. Close up, Kidd could see layer of fats threatening to escape out of his clothing.

"Your highness, let me introduce you to my guests," Rosier started. "My cousin Hiroki, his captain, Kidd-dono, and crew mate, Monsieur Killer, all visiting from South Blue."

Louis seemed disinterested. "A Blue's trashes do not compliment this room," he merely said to his friend, twirling his sharp mustaches and gazing into the distance with boredom.

Killer froze and lay a hand near his scythe handle, and Hiroki frowned.

Kidd narrowed his eyes..._What the hell did this he just call us?_

The harem manager burst into laughter. "Your sense of humor is as bright as ever, Your Highness!"

"Harharharhar," Louis laughed with him. "It's only the truth, Rosier, only the truth! Grand Line is where it's at! The other oceans are NOTHING! Harharharhar!"

The redhead felt his blood boil. A shadow fell over his eyes. By his side, he could feel the cold air from Killer, though it seemed held back, as if the masked man wouldn't trust that energy to not kill someone if he fully unleash it.

That didn't matter; he was being laughed at.

This shithead in front of him was _laughing_ at _him_, laughing at _his_ crew!

He laughed at _Killer_!

_What gives him the right to laugh at Killer? Only I can do that! And _nobody _laughs at me, ever!_

That bastard was _dead_!

"Excuse me?" Spoken in such a soft, deadly tone, the shipwright's voice cut off all laughter and caught their attention. He turned his head straight at Louis. "Since you are a royalty, I will warn you; please don't call me something I'm not."

The plump man shot him a nasty look. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? I say whatever I want and I'll call you whatever I feel like calling you! What are you going to do? I'm the prince of this kingdom, and easily have the power to crush worthless trashes from the weak seas!"

A snarl escaped from Kidd's throat. _Why you_- A hand grasped the captain's arm and pulled him back. He looked down to the held arm and saw Killer's hand there. "Don't."

"You will regret calling me that," Hiroki said, cold and neutral.

Louis' face twitched and twisted at that, and he stepped out closer to the taller man's face, scowling with rage. "Are you threatening me? My father is the king!"

"Now now, Your Highness!" Rosier interrupted before anything could happen. He reached out and gently pulled the prince away, grinning as if the funniest joke had just be told. "Hiroki is but a little child! At least that's how he always act around people. Like any other child, he doesn't know the words coming out of his mouth! Surely that can be forgiven!"

The prince glared at them once more before backing away.

"Here, let me take you to some of my party's newer additions. I've installed a rather lovely wishing pond in the garden if you wish to see it," he went on, escorting the royalty away. "And you're certainly interested in picking out of our fresh new _batch_, aren't you. We got a special beauty this season... Delivered straight from Sabaody Archipelago, she'll be performing soon with Rozara..."

The tension loosened as they disappeared into the crowd.

Killer's withdrew his hand from the scythe and faced his mask towards Hiroki. "Weren't you the one who said something about watching our words and actions? From what happened, you just told him that you'd kill him, didn't you?"

"Damn you..." Kidd muttered. "_I_ was planning to kill him!"

Hiroki smiled at them. "There is nothing of offense as to what I said to him. All I told him is that he'll regret calling me a trash of the Blues. Killing him or not is my option. But, please leave him to me, Sencho."

The captain shrugged and smirked. "Why not?"

* * *

In her little corner behind the scene, Rozara watched.

She admired the gracefulness of the dancers, their flexibility, and their swiftness as their legs and arms wrapped and twirled around the pole. Of course, they were hired dance-girls just for the night- none of their slaves would even be capable of dancing for such a crowd so daringly, and the fact that they were not trained by her made their movements to her interesting.

Still, dancing was not sex. They didn't keep her attention for long.

Next, she moved on to their guests, whom she wrinkled her nose with disdain at. Most of them were men that Rosier invited, and most of the women by their sides were either one-night arm candies, or mistresses. Very rarely did any of them bring their wives; it was expected, for a party such as this. A couple must have a very... unique sex life for it to happen.

The women she took time to admired their bodily goods, the men she sneered at. Was it just her, or were they getting uglier and more obese with every passing season?

It wasn't until Rosier arrived by her side did she turned her attention to the one group that stood out like sore thumbs in the middle of it all; the three pirates.

"They seem to be bickering amongst themselves," she commented to her manager, glancing at him out the corner of her eyes. "I saw them talking with the prince a little earlier. What happened? Did they not like each other?"

He chuckled, a spark lighting in his eyes. "When has Louis ever liked anyone?" A falsely drastic sigh. "Long story short, my baby cousin threatened to kill him."

That really caught her. A smirk stretched across her face. "Did he?"

"He did... He hasn't changed at all, holding such childish grudge over some petty insult. Though, I'm relieved that he did," Rosier said, watching the three leaving the scene. "If he hadn't, his captain would have killed Louis right then and there. Such a rash bunch of pirates."

Rozara's eyes lingered on the redhead captain as the man beside her talked on, a sinister smile played itself on her face.

That boy gave off an intimidating air, and his eyes held a murderous look that'd make any grown man wet their pants if put to good use. He was scanning the room one last time with disgust before following the other two out.

If this was how she saw him at first, she would not have been interested. But it wasn't. Hours ago, when she'd taken Lolita out for a show, she first caught sight of him, and caught sight of that absolutely innocent, blank look on his face, as if he had no idea what was going on.

And she'd thought to herself, _Jackpot._

"Rozara!" Rosier called her name, breaking her away from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked.

"Bring out the show now. Our guests are getting restless."

Ah, yes... The show. "I got it."

* * *

"He tried to kidnap me and my sisters so he could sell us into prostitution."

There was a choking sound.

"Was that suppose to be a laugh, Sencho? If so, it wasn't that funny. I was only twelve at the time, and scared out of my wits, mind you. Luckily, he got stopped by my father before he could cross the Red Line," Hiroki said.

Kidd composed himself. "You were twelve... And a boy..."

The shipwright blinked. "Oh, I forgot. You and Killer-san aren't very familiar with the subject. Very well, I will explain to you.

"Usually, in the business of pimping, clients' preferred age for girls ranges from thirteen years old and up until they're too old and ugly. But for boys, it's usually eleven to the mid-twenties. There are plenty of old perverse bastards in this world that are willing to pay for a twelve year old." Then, as if to irk his captain, he added, "For example, being eighteen, you will fetch a very handsome price in the market, Sencho."

A vein popped on the redhead's head. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SUGGESTING?"

"The facts..." Hiroki replied.

"THAT'S IT!"

_Bam!_ "Calm yourself, moron. We're not going to sell you," Killer said after he delivered a smack at Kidd's head.

"But he-"

"Boss! Killer-san! Hiroki-san!"

The three stopped and looked towards the source of the calls, and saw Mustang and Chuckie coming up ahead.

"What is it?" Killer asked as the two stopped, breathing heavily.

"Oi, where's Camry?" Kidd asked, looking around for the missing cook. "He never came back after taking that manor tour."

"That's what we want to talk to you about!" Chuckie said. "We were trying to find Camry-niisan too, but we found..."

"We found guards knocked cold on the ground near the back of the manor!"

Their captain frowned. "And that's important how?"

"You don't think..." Hiroki started.

Mustang shook his head, and held in front of him a black article of clothing. "There's no way to tell, but we took off one of the guard's shirt. I think you should take a look at it! There's a Jolly Roger on it! Your cousin is involved with pirates!"

Kidd snatched the shirt away and fanned it out. "Where is it? I don't see a skull anywhere," he said, turning the shirt inside out and this way and that for seconds before his first mate took hold of it and pointed the "skull" out. "What? This isn't a skull! This is a crossed-out smiley face!"

"North Blue."

"What?"

"Jolly Rogers of North Blue pirates are generally smiley faces," Hiroki explained. "But this Jolly Roger is..."

…Now that he thought about it, Kidd found something vaguely familiar about this particular symbol. He'd seen it somewhere, he definitely did. But before he could remember it himself, Killer spoke in a growl.

"What business does this guy have with a Shichibukai?"

* * *

Feet down underground, Rozara stood in front of an empty cell and chuckled to herself.

"I came to fetch a performer and saw all the guards knocked out and our performer gone. Who would've thought?

"What a shame, Prince Louis will not be please to find out that the girl we promised him won't be performing." A smirk. "I guess pirates... will still be men.

"And there are things in this world that men cannot resist."


	34. A Conqueror's Fantasy

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _doriansburial, The Fluffy One, yumeniai, RedValentino, Allycat18, Musaju17_ and _Dogychou_ for reviewing!

And a big shout out goes to Dogychou, who drew me this unexpected gift art, featuring Chuckie and Ren fangirling over Killer (thank you so much!). Anyone wants to see it? Yes? No? Doesn't matter... GO SEE IT! XD http: / / Dogychou. Deviantart. Com/ art /Devil -s- Luck- 177257896 Just remove the space, and if you're too lazy, I have a link in my profile.

I dunno why, but I don't like this chapter, which is very strange because before I wrote it, it was one of my favorite chapters to write. :-\ I'm also sorry for whatever grammar mistakes I didn't catch; I was really out of it while editing this.

EDIT: Damn it! I forgot a second time time!

Skadi-Skadi-no-mi drew... Well, not a fan art of the fic, but the first fan art I saw of whom I decided to call the Neglected Trio of the Kidd Pirates: http: / / skadi- skadi-no-mi. deviantart. com /gallery /# /d2x65jt It consists of Camry, Chevy and the other Mohawk guy (not their real names but...). Sorry, Skadi! D: I was totally going to put it last chapter, but it was up two days before I could remember that I forgot to put your art up so I decided to post it this chapter instead! Then two seconds in posting this one, I remembered again.

* * *

The guests were getting restless indeed.

"Ah... I'm afraid that she's no longer available, Your Grace," Rosier spoke to one less-than-pleased duke of some out of the way province or the other. "You see, Jade had a rather unfortunate encounter with one of our less responsible clients. She has been dismissed on the term of pregnancy... back to where she came from. I was not informed of her current whereabouts. However, if I can make up this loss for you, I'll gladly let you choose for no price tonight from our basket of many wonderful choices!"

"Back to where she came from" referring back to Sabaody Archipelago, where all the slaves in the House of Seas and Stars were exported from. His smile widened as the duke glared at him angrily.

"I personally rid my wife for her, and now you're telling me she's not here?" he hissed.

The smile did not go away. "What a tragedy!" He shook his head with false sorrow. "What a tragedy! Though, our policy did guarantee only satisfaction of the physical. I am sure that you were warned of all other matters that might happen along the way."

The duke bared his teeth murderously at him.

He gave an emphasized shrug with a carefree smirk, and said, "I bid you good luck at tracking the girl down."

With those last words, Rosier watched with amusement as the duke turned his back to him and stormed away.

"What a tragedy!" he mourned mockingly as soon as he was out of hearing range. "Another valuable client lost!"

He expected and had such situation happening all the time that it was a joke to him; it had been a joke since the beginning. There were so many idiots in this world, and it brought grief to his heart every time one of them came up to him to buy the whore they fell for, only to find out that she wasn't in their power to take.

Why would they come to a harem if they were looking for love?

"Their idealistic minds are laughable. They fall for prostitutes and expect happy ending out of the ordeal?" he said to himself, chuckling bitterly. "So many hopeless romantics...So many..."

"Is the show getting started or not, Rosier," a gruff voice growled, and the manager spun around, pasting a grin on his face.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, have patience!" he pleaded, gesturing the prince to a nearby table just as the background music changed. "Oh? Hear that? Rozara must be out with the new doll I've promised you! Have a seat and some refreshment. You'll not be disappointed!"

"I certainly hope I won't be. It's been a while since I saw a fresh face in the house," Louis drawled, plotting his fat self onto a wooden chair which creaked and moaned at the sudden weight. "She better be beautiful like you said!"

He smiled. "She will."

Rozara's show, the main event of every party he'd thrown. Rosier watched with contentment as the curtains closed and the lights dimmed. His assistant was no cheap gutter theatrical performer who could barely keep the audience's attention. When she moved, they watch. When her whip flick, they feel it. With the combination of special effects, her talent and body, and a pretty slave, his crowd were entranced season after season, year after year. If _he_ had not given him Rozara, business wouldn't be half good...

Long and red silk sashes dropped down from above.

Rosier raised an eyebrow. _Acrobats? You're going creative this season?_

"Oh...?" Louis leered and lean closer as the silhouettes followed the sashes. Two bodies flipped and rotated through the air. Rozara landed first, fully uniformed in black, and gave a tug at the other rope. The other body dropped and spun, movement artistically smooth though obviously not by the mover's choice, finally coming to a stop feet above the stage floor. Almost naked saved for the various body parts being covered by red cloth, a sash around the slave's neck yanked upwards, making her face the entertained guest.

Busty, beautiful and in heat, Rosier saw many men stirring and shifting in their seats as Rozara unwrapped the blindfold and unveiled feverish eyes.

But...

"Oi, Rosier!" the prince's voice boomed, catching everyone's notice. "This isn't a new whore! I've seen her tons before!"

His eyebrows twitched and gave a look towards his assistant, and merely scowled and stepped away from her performing partner, not happy at all that her show was interrupted once again. "Rozara?"

"I can't find Lolita," she answered, fiddling with her whip as the once-captivated crowd murmured amongst themselves. "So I settled for the best able girl."

"You lied to me...?" Louis snarled at him.

He faked a horrified gasp. "Your highness! Surely, you don't think that _I_ would lie to you? I beg your forgiveness for my underlings incompetence, but we seem to have a problem here. I'm sure without the new girl, Rozara can perform just as well! What do you say? The trouble is not worth missing out on my top master's show now, is it?"

The prince frowned and grunted, but eventually settled back in his seat, much to everyone's relief.

* * *

Under the blue moonlight, streets of City of Fleur were near empty with the exceptions of a few late-night drunks. In the distance, a clock tower struck eleven as two shadows darted about in the corners, one lagging behind the other, inconspicuous to eyes. By the time that Camry had dragged the frightened young women to the harbor, the watchmen there were asleep as well, making sneaking an easier task.

He dragged her pass the guards, to their ship and up the ladder.

Ren began barking as soon as she smelled his scent.

"Shush," he said to her as he helped his companion up. "Go get Chevy."

It wasn't needed. The lantern hanging above the mast flickered on as his younger brother opened the kitchen door, mouth and hands full of chocolate cake. His eyes lit up in surprise and confusion as Camry pulled along a smaller figure in black cloak to the back of the ship, gesturing him to follow.

Chevy and Ren glanced at each other.

* * *

"What?"

He bit back a wince at the tone of the question. "Nobody deserves such a treatment," was all he gave for an excuse.

"Are you _insane_? It's one thing to try to be a good person, but why the hell would you do such a thing?" Panic flashed over and over again on Chevy's face. "What are we suppose to do with her? She's a prostitute, Nii-san, a prostitute working under someone! What were you thinking bringing her here? No... No, take her back, damn it! We can't keep her on board!"

"Quiet down, you're scaring her!"

"The _only_ why she's scared is because you kidnapped her here!" the younger snapped. "This is a pirate ship! We're pirates-"

"So we're not allow to save people because we're pirates?" Camry growled.

"You think you're saving her? You're not!"

The last of the shouting died down with that.

Chevy turned his head and stole a look at their "guest", who met his eyes and quickly glanced away, huddling in her cloak all the while edging away from Ren; the worm was sniffing her.

"Does the captain know at least?" he asked.

"No."

"So how are you planning to pull it off?"

His older brother shrugged. "I was thinking of keeping her a secret until we can drop her off at a safer island."

Chevy looked as if he was about to say something else, but in the end, only shook his head and left the orlop.

He watched him go with a sigh and turned towards the blue-haired young woman, who now stared up at his with large blue eyes, unmoved. Chevy was right; she was scared more by the kidnapping than anything else; at least with what happened earlier, she had expected. But for some stranger to take her away? What were the chances?

To start, he held his hand above his head, a gesture of surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you," he told her, half-convinced that she wasn't understanding him. "My name is Camry, and I'm a pirate. But I'm not going to hurt you."

Her expression didn't change.

"Your name isn't really Lolita, is it?"

A flinch from her. Ren sniffed at her one more time and made a questioning noise before slithering away.

"...Will you tell me your name, then?" he asked hesitatingly.

The words seemed to take long to register her mind, but when it finally did, the blank look on her face faltered as she opened her mouth. He waited, but the only sound that came from her throat was a faint croak. By it, she shrunk back, grim and embarrassed, before trying again only to have the same result.

Camry watched as a slender hand extended out in the open, the index finger touched the ground. Parting the dirt and dust, she wrote in clear letters her name,"Dolores".

"Oh..." he muttered, staring at it, as the hand retreated back to the owner. "I see why you're called that..."

The woman pulled the cloak even closer to her. An awkward silence settled between them, and he stood there for minutes looking at her face before realizing that he better say something.

So he did with a big grin and said, "Then, I'll call you Dora!"

Her eyes blinked up with surprise.

"I'm going to get you food. You wait here, and don't worry; I'll deal with the consequences."

* * *

Kidd was still wide awake when the city clock struck twelve. He lay on the huge feathered bed of the guest room, fully clothed. There were two reasons why he couldn't sleep.

A Shichibukai.

He inwardly grinned, blood pounded through his bloodstream with excitement. Despite never listening to Killer's lectures, the masked man had kicked enough information into him for him to realize how big and dangerous of enemies the seven warlords were, and that Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo was said to have had a bounty of over three hundred million beri... over twenty years ago. Judging by that span of time that he'd been a Shichibukai and the fact that they were pardoned of everything except the most cruel of crimes, what power he must have enthralled the redhead's mind. A mongrel of the World Government, and associated with perverts- how Killer must loath him.

If a mere rookie ever take such a person like Doflamingo down in a fight...

A smirk stretched across his face at the thought, but as quickly as it came, it went.

There was someone outside of his room, which brought him to the second reason why he refused to sleep; this place was not safe.

Kidd sat up, a cold look graced his pale face and golden eyes darted towards the door with a dagger in hand. The person on the other side was so silent and stealth in fact, that no man should've heard anything. However, that didn't stop the pirate captain from sensing the presence of the intruder who made themselves a secret no longer as a key thrust loudly into the lock and turned the door handle.

"Having trouble sleeping, are we?" the low, familiar voice of a woman purred. High-heels brought her into the room, and she closed the door behind her. "Are our service not to your satisfaction, Monsieur Eustass?"

Forget sitting, he stood straight up and glared at the black-haired woman right in her eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Rozara's lips curved into a lazy smirk. "Why, I was worried. It's not every day that men find the House of Seas and Stars an unpleasant place; as a matter of fact, you and your crew are perhaps the first bunch. You found my performance vile, you left our grand ball without seeing the main show, and now you can't sleep at night. Naturally, we think we might be losing our touch. I only came to make sure that everything is all right."

"Consider yourself lucky that you're an employee under one of my crew mate's relative, bitch," he growled. "Or I would kill you for interrupting my peace. Now get out!"

He did not like that smirk. "My, my... Aren't you a sensitive one?"

Kidd glowered. _Is she mocking me?_

_Whoosh!_

It happened all at once all too suddenly. A whip knocked the dagger out of his hand, the woman's body leaping on top of his, pushing him backwards onto the bed, the same whip now around his neck like it was a collar. The next second, Rozara sat, left foot stomping on his right leg , her body weight pinning the other leg. His hands flew around her wrist as the whip tightened around his throat.

_What the hell is this bitch doing!_ "You want to die?" he snarled, fully ready to snap her arm in half.

She laughed a high, cold laugh that sent chills down his spine. "And the first man to say no to me too! You're special indeed!" Her free hand gripped the front of his pants, fingers toying with the zipper. Without warning, her hand slipped below the waistband.

Kidd flew up and threw her off with all his force, separating her from her whip, sending the woman's body crashed against the opposite wall.

He recalled his dagger before she could look up, and pointed it in her direction.

Rozara chuckled. "Why are you being so nervous? Aren't you a tough boy?" she mocked, caressing her shoulder. "What's wrong? Don't tell me that you have no idea what I'm about to do!"

His face twitched; he didn't. What was she doing, getting so close to him like that? What the hell was she fucking touching him for? It felt abnormal. Her presence on top of him felt abnormal! Strangely, his dreams flashed through his mind. He tried to make sense of the connection.

"You don't? Honey, that's how babies are made! ...You don't!" And she burst out laughing at the flushed red face, which only served to distract and enrage him even further, slowly getting up. That bitch was dead- _dead! _"Should I tell you, little one, or would you prefer me to show you?"

Kidd was pushed._ Plap!_ The whip in his hand swung and struck the target dead on, tearing the leather clothing and leaving a gush before she could dodge. He swung a second time, prepared to kill. It never hit; a hand reached out and snatched the whip's end out of the air. The tough leather slapped against a palm, leaving her with a bleeding hand but in control on the other end.

The redhead snarled and pulled. She wasn't letting go.

"Bad puppy," he heard her whisper, dropping her free arm to reveal the bloody wound on her stomach. "You shouldn't harm your mistress."

"YOU'RE DEAD!"

Rozara took the opportunity and snatched the whip-handle from his grasp before he could act. _Plap!_

It came for him like a snake, and he jumped away barely enough. It struck him on the side of a leg, ripping the pant and leaving a red swell.

"Disobedient little boys will be punished," she stated, looking down at him with blazing eyes. Her hair was a cloud of black around her as she headed for him. He readied a fist and attacked.

_BOOM!_

The door fell down the same instance she hit the wall for the second time that night. They froze and turned to see Rosier standing outside, raising his eyebrows at them.

"It sounds like so much fun you're having from the outside that I thought to myself... 'Why, would they mind if I join in?'" he said loudly with a big smile. "Kidd-dono, I'll have to warn you, though, that my walls and furniture are quite expensive to construct and repair. On behalf of my cousin and my employee's rashness, the blame will not be placed on you." He held his hands out in a gesture of defeat. "I deeply apologize, in fact."

The pirate captain guarded his every move with suspicion, but otherwise did nothing. Killing would have to wait, he sneered in his head, but yes, they'll all die- that prince for mocking him, that bitch for laughing at him and that bastard relative of his shipwright too. They'll all get what was coming for them soon enough!

"It is certainly not my fault that Monsieur Eustass does not appreciate my offer of…. homeliness and warmth," Rozara declared as her employer waved a hand at her.

"I apologize once more," he said and clapped. Four men rushed in. "Fix the door." And with a bow, he left.

The fixing took ten minutes- ten minutes of Kidd death-glaring at the underlings, secretly pleased at how shaken they were by his glare. The four did their job, packed the equipments, and fled the room. Now, with the shut door, he felt more at ease; that bitch most likely won't try that again.

_What was she doing anyway? For some reason, I got the impression that she wasn't trying to pick a fight with me, but why does it remind me of those pointless dream? It wasn't just now. This morning too, what she was doing with that slave-girl. Just then, her hands were..._ The next few words sounded funny to him..._ in my pants._

"_You don't? Honey, that's how babies are made! ...You don't!"_

Shut up! How dared she laugh at him!

_How babies are made._ Her words echoed in his head. _Made... How babies... Hahaha! Made... Making babies... How..._

And a distant memory, so long ago that he'd pushed it into the back of his mind, buried it along with all the other supposed useless things, overtook him.

Kidd remembered.

He was fourteen, and his joints had been hurting for nearly a month. The setting was the backyard of a house- perhaps the house he'd been in more than any other; the village mayor's house. He was scowling...

"_Will you pay attention, little rascal!" Akio shouted at the redhead boy. "I'm hating this as much as you so appreciate my sacrifice!"_

"_Shut up, geezer," Kidd growled back. "What the hell do you want? I was catching lunch!"_

_The old mayor sighed and sat down on a log, wishing that Kidd would listen so he could get the awkwardness over with. "Has anyone ever told you how babies are made?" he initiated the conversation._

_A frown. "You dragged me all the way here to talk about how babies are made? You're a dumbass, old man! Everyone knows how babies are made! It's easy; two people just have to walk down in the beach with a basket of flower, a bunch of their hair and twenty thousand beri. Then they push the basket into the ocean and a baby will come sailing back nine months later! You got that? You're so stupid, no wonder you don't have any kid of your own!"_

"_THAT'S NOT IT, YOU IMBECILE!"_

Sex.

He opened his eyes.

She was trying to have sex with him.

He turned to his right.

Shichou had told him that it would be like a natural thing, a man and a woman having sex. But somehow, it felt wrong. Feeling wrong brought him to another thing- what happened that morning between the bitch and that slave-girl... was it sex too? Or at least was it going to be?

Sex in public? He was told that sex was a private matter!

No. He knew this too, and all at once, the reason why Killer was so angry came to him- not because they were dressed scandalously, not because they didn't like Hiroki's cousin, but because it was rape.

_Then what happened just now was her... _A snarl arose from Kidd's throat. He couldn't believe it; he was nearly dominated by a fucking woman! What the hell? _I'll kill her! I definitely kill her!_

But something continued to nag him. What was it? What was he thinking before that? ...Oh yes, his dreams. Now that he had carefully thought about it, what he was doing in them all fit the information he'd learned. The only reason why he wasn't able to catch on earlier was because... Well... The person in the dream was a man.

"Is that even possible?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

"I already know," Rozara said coldly to the camera guard. "You may leave."

"H-Hai, Rozara-sama," he said, and scrambled out of the room.

Behind her, Rosier tsked his tongue. "Why are you being so cold? You should know better than to barge into our guest's room like that, Rozara! We don't want a fight to start so soon now, would we?"

She glanced down at the rewinding footage that show the cook of the pirate crew leading Lolita out of her cage, throwing a black cloak over her as she sobbed, terrified beyond her life. "When are you going to do it? Two bounty heads in one crew... Why aren't we capturing them already?"

"Calm down, calm down," he answered, walking over to a desk where two posters lay on. "I want to play just a little longer with my beloved baby cousin before I..." And with a wide smirk, he made a cutting motion with his hand and neck. "You see, my dear, I fancy waiting for my revenge."

Was Takamaru going to be surprised when he opens up a package of his son's head. Of course, just sending a head would be too cruel. No father would want to bury his son with just a head in that big empty coffin, oh no. Perhaps, he should sent Hiroki's body back in an alternative fashion that would make them both happy to some extent. For example, the head in the winter, the arms in the spring, the legs in the summer, and the organs, all cut and stored in labeled jars as an autumn gift? Yes, he decided, that sounded fair enough.

"What's with that face?"

Rosier snapped out of this thought. "Thinking... Really, Rozara, what the hell were you doing?"

The woman crackled. "You're swearing at me! Hahaha! What was I doing? Wasn't it obvious? I was taking him, what else!" She turned to him, her eyes glinted. He leaned back, feeling uncomfortable; she only looked like this while fucking someone. "It's been such a long time since I have the body of a man under me..." Her voice trailed off into a whisper. "And there he was, naïve, strong and fighting me! You of all people should know the feeling of controlling someone like that, Rosier." A smirk. "He's just too cute to pass up!"

He coughed. "If you want a man, there are many participants in our harem fit for your need-"

"No, no," She waved him off, glancing to her left as if she was seeing Eustass Kidd there, probably tied up and crying like in her fantasy. "They're too willing for a woman after spending all those times with those sweaty old men! Where are the pleasure and fun in them being willing? ….When we capture, you give that child to me for three days; you owe me for interrupting our session."

Rosier shook his head. "If it's not your sadistic ways and your utter refusal to submit to a man, you'll make a fine wife of mine."

"Your wife?" She snorted. "Submit to a man? Ha!"

"Three days it is..."


	35. Poker Face

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Meri, Allycat18, Msaju17, yumeniai, Dogychou, ChibiFluffy_ and _doriansburial_ for reviewing! :D

Well, what do you know. A late chapter again. No, I haven't vanished from the face of the earth. No, it's not that I lost interest in the story- I haven't, I'm far from losing interest. It's something that is almost, if not equally terrible: school.

Yes, people, today is the first day of my school year, and we all know that when a school year comes around, the world of fanfiction goes into a dark, dark ice age (since the majority of us are students). It's also the reason why recent chapters were late; I was rushing through my summer assignments, both of which are due the first day of school. I managed to get them both in on time only because I forced myself to neglect this fanfiction for the first three days after every update.

Now as for this fic... Let me tell you something about last year; it was hell, and judging by my courses and teachers this year, I honestly don't know how I am going to balance this fic with my school work, but I'll try. So sorry for the tardiness, and with such a choppy, shitty chapter too...T_T

EDIT: I edited the mistakes, as many as I can catch (Thanks yumeniai for pointing out things for me). Sorry about that, folks.

**Real Life Reference Note!** I know that Russia doesn't exist in One Piece! Sorry to any Russians reading this, but if it make you feel any better, none of our countries do either. XD The explanation for using the word "Russian" will be in next chapter!

Pusoy (1)- Chinese poker... But since I want to refrain using nationality terms as much as possible, I used the alternative name. Yes, it's different from regular poker. My mom taught me how to play it, and I ended up losing to her over one hundred dollar at the rate of one dollar per game. -_-'

* * *

"Straight flush!"

"Four of a kind."

"...You won again..."

Hiroki nodded as his older cousin threw another two hundred thousand beri onto a large pile, a pile so large that Chuckie had trouble not drooling. His eyes sparkled with awe as the bills landed loudly amongst its own kind. The crispy papers rustling in the wind was music his ears.

The winner, on the other hand, looked quite bored. "Are you sure you want another round, Rosier-san? I seem to be bleeding your pockets dry."

"Nonsense! Giving up? What preposterous! Are you worrying about me losing all my money? How sweet, Hiro-chan!" the proud man exclaimed, and Hiroki's eyebrows twitched with mild irritation. "No, don't fret about a thing! You there!" He wiggled a finger at a nearby guard. "Deal out the cards!"

Chuckie looked away from the card game as footsteps came from beyond the garden.

He'd been observing all morning, and by now, had gotten the rules of Pusoy(1), as Hiroki-san's cousin was explaining as they played along; it was a good thing that his Aniki was still out looking for Camry.

Right now, he watched as Boss-man stepped from beyond the gate and into the garden. The redhead's angry golden eyes immediately flew to the occupied table which contained the shipwright and Rosier, and his jaws clenched noticeably. Hiroki raised an eyes at that face, and the manager merely smiled and proceeded asking the usual questions of "Did you get and a good night sleep?" and "What do you think of my lovely garden? It's a collection of all plant lives on island! Quite an impressive feat, no?" Neither of which Kidd responded to.

_Boss?_ The little boy blinked, a frown forming on his face.

It was clear to him now. Hiroki-san was clearly not happy- he hadn't even smiled once since the day before. Killer-san got mad, and nobody would tell him why. Camry-niisan disappeared overnight. Aniki seemed very weary of this place, constantly keeping Chuckie by his side. Now Boss-man looked like he wanted to murder someone, that someone being their host, who, as far as Chuckie could see, had done nothing wrong. Why was everyone acting so weird?

Two seconds later, Killer-san joined them, and he turned his attention back to the game, no longer admiring the mountainous stack of beri.

* * *

Day two. Five more days to go.

Kidd had originally intended to find Killer. He didn't know why; there was nothing he needed his first mate for. Just the thought of Killer with him gave him a sense of assurance, and so he took it upon himself to search for the masked man first thing in the morning, only to venture into the garden ten minutes later.

In an instance, rage stirred within him at the sight of Rosier, and at the memory of what happened last night. Behind that friendly smile, the man oozed off the air of a predator ready to scoop down on its prey, but such demeanor only served to anger Kidd more. Yes, he would kill the bastard before the bastard could kill him. His fists clenched and his jaws set. That was a definite ending.

He was so drowned in his own thought that he didn't sense Killer approaching.

"Welcome, Monsieur Killer!" Rosier greeted, slapping down another card, which Hiroki efficiently countered. "Did you have a good night sleep."

"Good, as good a sleep as I can get here," the masked man replied.

"That's excellent, that's excellent!"

That lightening tone irked Kidd. _You bastard. I know what you're after. We're pirates, we're _wanted_ pirates. There is no way that a person like you would shelter wanted criminals. I will have your head before you can take mine!_

"What happened?" His first mate's whisper cut off his inner rage for just a second, and he looked up to see the mask giving a small nod toward the rip on the side of his pant.

"I..." he began, but rethought back on the subject that would be brought up.

If he told Killer, how would he react? Would he laugh? Kidd felt a tightening feeling in his chest envisioning Killer laughing at him. Would he be regarded as a weakling? With the second possibility, his chest tightened even more. Those were the two of the worse reactions he could think of, the _worst_ being Killer just walking out on him.

The redhead refused to have any of those scenarios happen. He would explain this properly.

"Kidd? There's a dark bruise on your leg, how did you get a bruise?"

He opened his mouth a second time, only to find his voice gone and tongue unable to move. All he managed was a choke. His face flushed slightly.

"Kidd, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he finally muttered back.

He didn't sense the masked man moving.

"Nothing," he said in a firmer voice, and finally heard Killer leaving his side.

The tension inside of him eased, but did not go away.

Kidd knew that sex was a taboo subject, but he never thought that just talking about it with someone could be so hard. Maybe it was because he wasn't knowledgeable in that area, or maybe he knew of Killer's hatred for perverts. Trying to talk to him about sex would definitely make Kidd a pervert in his eyes, wouldn't it?

Sex...

And a question occurred to him suddenly. He looked up, eyebrows furrowed.

_Has Killer ever had sex?_

Later that day, Camry showed up at the front door.

"I was taking a walk in the city and I got lost. I ended up sleeping in one of the alleyways, " he explained, chuckling. "The blue trees are lovely! How did they become this way?"

And as Rosier dragged the cook away with glee, all too happy to tell, the rest of the Kidd pirates exchanged looks.

"That was him definitely him last night," Kidd said.

"He's a horrible liar," Killer commented

"But why would he...?" Chuckie muttered.

"Beat up a bunch of guards? Run away for an entire night?" Mustang finished. "Who knows... Damn Camry and his irrationality. He always does things like this. I only hope we can take the consequences."

"Please don't blame Camry-san," Hiroki told all of them. "The consequences are already inevitable from the start."

* * *

Day three. _Four more days to go, _Chevy thought as he examined the square he'd carved on the floorboard as Camry delivered food to their stowaway.

"Does this look obvious to you, Ren?" he asked the worm, pointing at said square. "If it's not, the trap won't be any useful." What good was a trap that could be seen?

"Woof!" she answered.

"I suppose... Of course I have to tell everyone. I can't have our own crew mates get caught in our own traps," he said.

"Woof!"

"String traps?" A frown. "We don't have strings on board."

Far away, the shipwright entertained his cousin in the two hundred and thirty-seventh round of Faro.

Camry, for some strange reason, did not return the following morning.

* * *

Day Four. Three more days to go.

A pair of large blue eyes gazed out of the tiny window. She could smell the salty ocean air, hear the seagulls squawking overhead, and once in a while, see a blue leaf or two gently floating pass the little bright square.

Dolores sank down and slowly turned her head towards the massive amount of food that had been placed by her side last night- a large plateful of sandwiches, dozens of fried fish on sticks, a bowl of salad and fruits, a bottle of lemonade and two enormous slices of chocolate cake. It was enough to feed ten hungry men, and she wasn't even hungry. Yet, she crawled back to it, gingerly picked up something random, and ate, and ate and ate and ate...

She silently cried to herself while she did.

This was a pirate ship. She had more or less been kidnapped by a pirate. She should've been scared, she should've ran- she'd heard tales of pirates, about how they treated women, about all sort of crimes they did and all kind of blood they'd spilled. But strangely enough, inside this dim, sawdust-smelling orlop, she had never felt so safe.

Miles away inside a castle, the Kidd pirates walked in a garden of pure blue. The garden, unlike any others, was inside a tall glass room, the temperature inside a great deal colder that outside. In short, they'd walked into a giant, cooled greenhouse of some sort that was connected to the royal palace of Bleu.

_Greenhouse? More like a Bluehouse._

Blue, from the palest that almost seemed white to the darkest, only shades away from black. Blues leaves, blue flowers, blue tree trunk. Blue dominated this place as far as the eyes could see.

Eustass "Captain" Kidd stood out like a sore thumb with his flame-like hair and dark red coat. Him with his cold expression and murderous eyes were a stark contrast to the blueness of the beautiful plants.

"The Garden of Eve!" Rosier announced proudly as a castle guide led them inside. "The palace of Bleu's proudest accomplishment! The later king, Louis XIX personally designed this garden himself! He was a brilliant architect! Oh! Look at it here! A blue butterfly! A blue bee! Isn't this breath-taking? Breath-taking, I say!"

"Incredible!" Chuckie shouted before racing away like a hyperactive squirrel.

"Oi, don't run off you little brat!" Mustang scolded, and chased after him.

"Why is this garden confined inside?" Hiroki questioned, staring at an oversized flower that resembled much like a madonna.

"Ah, yes! That reminds me! You see cousin, they say 'Blue blood runs the deepest, blue moon glows the brightest, blue love holds the truest, and blue flame burns the hottest.'" he quoted. "And for the last clause, these blue beauties hold true! Blue indeed burns, and for such large about of plant to grow on a _summer_ island, can you imagine the problem this country has every year regarding fire?" He shook his head. "That's why the capital is built by the ocean, where water are plentiful! 'Tis a tragic for the folks in the inner island, of course, but what can they do? In summary, these plants are exceedingly flammable. Why, if we had put this many of them under the hot sun on a cloudless day without this air vent to cool their environment off, the castle will no doubt be burned down..."

Kidd thought that he saw a tiny tug on a corner of his shipwright's lips. "I see."

Later that day, Mustang was hysterical.

"I saw him! I had him in my sight!" the oldest of the brothers cried. "Chuckie was right there in the garden, and- Boss, you heard me calling for him to follow us, didn't you? I told him that we were leaving the garden!"

"Calm down!" Kidd barked, having enough. "He's nine, he can take care of himself if he gets lost!"

"The servants are already searching the castle for him," Hiroki assured the him. "Chuckie-kun is quite noisy, so it shouldn't be a hard find. He'll eventually turn up somehow."

* * *

Day Five. Two more days to go.

"You're so bored right now that you're resorting to trying to beat me in chess?"

A white queen knocked over a black pawn. "Can you blame me?" Rosier said, shrugging with wide eyes. "You have the most astonishing luck with card games, cousin, I'm afraid that I will never win against you! But with chess, it's a different matter. With chess-" Hiroki moved his bishop, knocking over a white knight. "-luck plays no role! It's all about skill! Skill! And I am a master when it comes to skill!"

"Hm," the younger hummed, neither denying or agreeing as his opponent made used of his turn.

The board, at this point, was an ambiguous battlefield. It was obvious that the white queen was on to get the king. He could use a pawn to kill the queen, but a bishop stood, well ready to kill whatever that would make that killing move. And... His hand hovered over one of the pieces... No. There was only one way.

He moved his king instead.

The white queen immediately bumped forward. "Checkmate!" Rosier announced loud and clear before laughing. "Finally!" he crowed. "I beat you! Hahahaha! You are truly worthy of an opponent, Hiro-chan, truly!"

"Please take a good look at the board."

The laughter stopped. "Huh?" And Rosier frowned.

"Your queen was one spot to the left off of putting my king in Checkmate," Hiroki said, pointing it out. "However, if my last knight is moved here-" He moved the knight. "That would put _your_ king in jeopardy, since the only space he is allow to move to will put him in my queen's way. Now it's Checkmate."

Rosier blinked and frowned even more. "Well, well... I was so sure... Must have been a mistake on my part then."

He didn't catch the way that Hiroki's fists relaxed beneath his sleeves.

"You spare no mercy to the enemy do you, cousin?"

"Depends."

He chuckled. "Oh, please have a little heart, Hiro-chan," he mockingly pleaded. "After all, we're a _family_!"

"You lost. Please clear and reset the board."

On the other side of the city, Mustang raced in panic up and down the streets, bumping into stands and tearing into shops, taking no notice of the mob chasing him.

It was clear to him now. Camry was missing- he hadn't came back in nearly two days. Chuckie was also missing. Where were they? He'd checked everywhere, damn it! Maybe he should check the harbor next. But Chevy knew that they weren't suppose to be at the ship unless it was to stock up, and he knew that his third youngest brother wouldn't allow them to stay for two days without sending them back!

"CHUCKIE! CAMRY, YOU JACKASS! IF YOU TWO DON'T ANSWER, WE'LL SET SAIL WITHOUT YOU!"

"How terrible," a low voice purred from a dark corner. "Abandoning your cute little brothers like that."

The man spun around. "You're... That Rozara-woman..." He remained still and silent as the woman leaning against the wall smirked, not sure how to talk or act around someone like her. Oh well, she was a host wasn't she, despite everything. "...Have you seen my brothers?"

"Rest assure," she coolly responded. "We found them while you're out."

He frowned. "You did? Where are they? How did you find them?" She walked up to him and cupped his cheek, stroking his face as he sopke. Mustang leaned back and blushed. "O- Oi, ma'am-"

"Don't call a woman that," Rozara said, pulling back with a- _disappointed? What? Why?_ He was confused- look on her face, as if she didn't get what she'd expected when she touched him. "It'll make her feel old.

"Come now, your brothers' are this way, waiting for you..."

"Th- Thank you!"

* * *

Day Six. One more day to go.

"Who are you people?" Chevy asked the intruders in trench coats, broad-rimmed hats and sunglasses. "This is a privately owned ship, trespassing is not allowed!"

The eldest of them all tipped his hat at him as his lackeys began looking around, much to the trapper's irritation. "Oi! I said that you can't-" "Pardon me, I am looking for the ship of Eustass 'Captain' Kidd!" His attention was instantly caught.

"What do you want with Bo- I mean," the blond corrected, shaking his head. Obviously, he couldn't tell the truth. They were in disguise! "Who the hell is this Eustass 'Captain' Kidd?"

"Anything yet?" the man shouted, completely ignoring him. "Damn it, we were told that they docked here! The squad leader would have our head if we don't find them! Let's move on to the next ship!" Then, turning to Chevy, "You're completely useless, boy! Thanks for nothing!"

_What?_ He watched with a blank face as they leaped off the ship.

As they left, he slowly shrunk back further and further from the rail. A twinge of panic sparked within him. _What the hell do they want with us? Captain and the others didn't cause trouble, did they?_

_Shit... It's that girl-_

BAM!

….

A thud of Chevy's body falling on the deck.

A tall man stood beside him, and tossed the unconscious body of Ren on top of him. His pants was torn from behind, a huge hole revealing a rather embarrassing, pink hearts decorated underpants, courtesy of Ren's sharp teeth. Though, since his behind wasn't facing anyone, the humiliation was more or less saved. The man played the role of the tough asshole, and took a deep puff of his cigar.

"Oi, you idiots!" he called out.

Immediately, the uniformed intruders from before rushed from all over and gathered onto the deck in answer to their squad leader.

He nodded toward Chevy, and pointed to the back deck. "Go. Watch out for the traps on your way there."

* * *

Day Seven.

Something was up. It was made clear yesterday.

"_Mustang-san isn't back yet. He told us that he won't returned until he finds Camry-san and Chuckie-kun, but..._" the shipwright said, his sentence left unfinished.

"_I think we all know what happened to them,"_ Kidd said darkly.

"_I won't put it pass my cousin to do something like that."_

"_Killer-"_

"_Not until tomorrow_," the masked man said. _"Rosier took them is the one thing that's sure, but we can also be sure that he didn't kill any of them yet either. In the meantime, let's be patient and wait."_

And so they did.

The morning of the seventh day started with the breakfast in the guest dining room.

"Today!" Rosier boomed in his obnoxiously cheerful voice as they filtered into the room. "Today is it! The _big_ day!" The three stood by the door as he stared at them. "Well, do sit down, my cousin, my friends! What's a big day without a big meal to start it off?"

Rozara placed herself on a sofa, stirring her cup of coffee. _Rosier, Rosier,_ she mused silently to herself. _Are you going to play until the end?_

"Hand over our nakamas."

She raised an eyebrow. _Straight to the point, aren't we?_

"Hand over who?" Rosier made a face, as if he didn't understand what Kidd was talking about. "I would gladly, Kidd-dono, except that I don't have-"

"I'm afraid your journey ends here, puppies," the female master interrupted before this play could go on further, sipping her morning drink. "I believe that you've suspected this coming already. It will be less trouble if you would just surrender without struggling. Of course, struggling will make it more fun for us. Unfortunately, the time for fun has long passed, so we'll just have to make do with quickies." She licked a drop of spilled coffee from her thumb.

The room went quiet. A passive, sluggish coldness overtook the air.

"...Now, my dearest, why must you spoil my grand moment?" Rosier complained as she casually drank.

"You were too slow," his dearest replied not so dearly.

"That's no excuse-"

_Bam!_

Killer's heels screeched to a stop feet away. Behind his mask, the masked man's eyes widened at the raised arm that he'd planned to take off. _That 'barrier'! That man has...!_

Hiroki's hands twitched by his side, a dark shadow fell over his eyes.

"How did he...?" Kidd whispered in a hush. "He 'repelled' Killer's scythe!"

Rosier set down the arm, still smiling as if nothing had happened. "That was quite good a move, Monsieur Killer! Why you... You almost caught me off guard! Excellent! I applaud you! It's not everyday that I witness a being with your speed! Truly marvelous. Don't you agree, Rozara?"

Her name acted as a code word of some sort, but before they could realize it, it was too late.

Chains shot out from the wall and wrapped themselves around the pirates. Killer, still tensed and slightly shocked, hissed in pain and rage as his back slammed against the wall. Kidd, even less prepared in the mist of confusion, hit the space on the wall right next to the masked man.

Hiroki kicked away a chain and backed into the table. A surprise attack came for his left shoulder, which he barely dodged. His right arm met Rosier's left, and the bone throbbed in pain. The right palm slammed against his chest, pushing him downward.

Rozara set down her empty coffee cup.

"He's weaker than I'd imagined," she commented. "You spoke too highly of him, Rosier. What a let down."

"Just as I thought, Hiro-chan," the man said, snapping his finger- a signal for his underlings, who came into the door in a single file line and stood guard. "Takamaru taught you nothing! He was never too fond of Chii Jutsu. Why, had he not eaten that Devil Fruit of his, I could've easily accomplished my taking of you and your sisters that day. Too sad..." He shook his head, tsking his tongue, and taunted, "What Takamaru thought wasn't important must not be... You Shinodas, so prideful, so... full of it."

A smirk. "If you had learned it well enough, you would've had no trouble defeating me. I presume that you know what I used just now, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And has it been taught to you?"

"No."

Rosier opened his arms. "See? You've been taught nothing! Let me just say this to you, out of my good heart as a cousin...You can't attack a person whom you can't touch, Hiro-chan! A hand-to-hand combatant like you is nothing against someone like me! Isn't that the reason why you weren't able to leave Shinoda-kai before?" His voice trailed off into a whisper. "You cannot beat your own father. He's a Logia; you cannot inflict harm upon him! _I _can.

"Of course, I should've perfected it eleven years ago when I'd planned that kidnapping, but my impatience for revenge was a flaw on my part! I am more controlled than that now.

"Do have a seat. We'll talk. Don't fight against me now when you know that you cannot win."

The younger went along.

Another snap of fingers.

The walls turned, and out it carried three chained figures.

"Oi, you dumbasses! How dare you allow yourselves to be captured!" Kidd instantly snarled at the Mustang, Camry and Chuckie.

"Speak for ourselves," Killer told him dryly as they struggled to talk with gags in their mouths.

"NOW THAT WE HAVE AN AUDIENCE...I'll do the honor to introducing to you all the reason why I did not simply just kill you all the moment you set foot on this island," Rosier said, regaining all their attention. "How could we know that you're not pirates? Judging by your ship, yes, we would have a hard time. But two such noticeable bounty heads walking into my casino? Yes, I had ordered my minions to kill you that day when I heard about Kidd-dono breaking my beloved slot machines like that, but out of my curiosity that there was someone unknown in the crew who was out-gambling my best customers and players, how could I not investigate personally? I am an avid table game player after all!

"You can imagine my surprise when I saw my little cousin standing in the middle of such crowd! I met a family member on Grand Line!" And he turned towards Hiroki, and said in a spat, "A _family_. Yes... Let's tell them all about the history between our little lovely family, shall we?

"Do you know what happened, cousin?"

"Papa spoke of it often," was all the black-haired man said.

"Good, good. So you do know, but let us review anyway."

Rosier pulled out a large stack of old wrinkled papers. "Sixty-eight years ago, two marriages occurred. One between Shinoda Masaru and Lady Montague Montressa, the younger daughter of Count Montague Vincent. The second between Francisco Andre and Lady Montague Carmina, older sister of Lady Montressa."

He set down one paper.

"Sixty years ago, Count Montague Vincent died of rat poisoning in a vacationing motel. His fortune strangely enough all went to Montague Montressa, who, being the younger sister, shouldn't have gotten a speck. The motel was later publicly revealed to have been ran by the Shinoda-kai, years too late to convict anyone of murder, or anyone to care."

He set down another.

"Fifty years ago, Francisco Andre became an official employee of his brother-in-law, working on a merchant ship sponsored by the Shinoda-kai. Four years and four faithful journeys later, a mass of opium leaked into the sea right in front of a marine-stationed island. At that time, he worked as the acting captain of that ship. The Shinoda-kai cut of ties with him, and he was sentenced to death. My father was fifteen years old that year, and your father was eight."

He set down the third.

"Forty-two years ago, the former Lady Carmina paid a visit to her younger sister on Baterilla. She claimed to have died of the infamous Red Fever only two days later. Her objective was to borrow enough money for her son to get married."

He set down the fourth.

"Her son, Francisco Josse, moved steadily through the ranks of Shinoda-kai five years after his mother's death, and challenged his cousin, Shinoda Takamaru, for the seat when Masaru died. Josse and his wife were found dead two months after that challenge inside their own home. They said that they committed suicides.

"They found his three year old son in the closet hiding."

Rosier sneered and leaned down close to Hiroki's face. "And I saw _everything_."

Rozara poured herself a second cup of coffee.

"Do you deny any of my accusations?"

The younger looked at him. "No."

"Well that's a first." The voice came out as a spat.

"Family... Don't you find it ironic, cousin? That theme, wasn't it so imposed on you when you were younger? Why of course it was," he continued. "The yakuzas are nothing but a big, happy family with the need of a good leader to lead and guide his younger brothers through darkness and harm! Yet... This is how they really treat family!

"In reality, you Shinodas are lower than dirt. Ruthlessness and selfishness, those are the two traits that every single one of you are brought up on. You care nothing for anything not concerning your own safety, and you rid whoever dares to get in your way. Those two traits, I adopted too, and you know what? They work out wonderful! They work out marvelous! But by adopting your family's traits doesn't make me hate them any less, or become them any more. It just taught me a lot of things about how to effectively kill an enemy.

"But you know what else, Hiro-chan? I like you. Because in a way, you are just like me- a bastard of that family! Only difference is, you are a what I would call a Golden bastard, a bastard that is needed for the occasion. I, on the other hand, am not needed. Though, your turning against Takamaru may just be the one thing that made me like you fully! Had you not, I would've treated you just like any others!

"Which brought me to the next point. I'd like everyone to listen to this.

"Since you do not have the power to break free from your own father, you must have waited long and hard for someone else to give you the opportunity, did you not?"

His face stretched into a big smile and looked up, eyes raking carefully over each and every one of the Kidd pirates, who stood, or were strapped up on the walls, with disbelief, anger and plenty of other things written on their faces.

"Who is the brave young warrior that beat Takamaru? Is it you, Kidd-dono? Monsieur Killer? What about one of you three?"

"What my crew does I'll handle it, you asshole," Kidd growled. "If that bastard betray us, I'll kill him myself! I don't need you to butt in!"

"Obvious you, Kidd-dono, the captain!" Rosier said. "Quite a remarkable crew that my baby cousin has attached himself to! I see why now!"

"Shut up! You're talking to the future King of Pirates, you fucking son of a bitch!"

That stunned Rosier into silence for once. The man stepped back, blinked.

Rozara broke it first, full fleet laughter spilling richly from her throat. Her employer followed soon after.

"That's a big dream, Kidd-dono," he exclaimed. "Too bad that it'll never come true!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" the enraged redhead aspiring Pirate King snarled. "HOW DARE YOU LAUGH AT ME!"

"You see," Rosier explained when he recovered from his little outburst. "I'm about to put loyalty to the test here! Bring them out." He snapped his finger. A cage tumbled in loudly into the room, followed by the grunting of one familiar person. Two bodies were threw on the ground, one of them they recognized instantly. Ren howled from her cage.

"Monsieur Chevy, is it?" the manager greeted the tied up third youngest brother as his siblings cried, or tried to, with outrage.

"Lolita," Rozara cooed almost affectionately as she reached out and grasped the younger woman harshly. "Did you miss me, little doll?"

"Put her down Rozara," Rosier commanded. "I'm only letting her in here for a goodbye with Monsieur Camry there." He looked at the Mohawk man, who began thrashing against his hold. "You are indeed a hopeless one! Falling in love with a prostitute whom you barely know, kidnapping her from me onto your ship, and expecting everything to end happily ever after? When will men like you learn their lessons?" He shook his head and motioned to a guard. "Take her to the prince. Tell him that this is the prize I owe him."

"Yes, Rosier-sama."

"Now, I want to be fair, because I feel that with such mutuality between us, cousin, I feel that you should be given a chance. So let us end this in a game shall we? Except this time, instead of me playing, you opponent in the flesh will be Monsieur Chevy here-" And he dragged Chevy onto a chair despite protest. "-While I guide him in the background. What do you say?"

"I never heard of any game like that," Hiroki said.

"Well, sure you have. It's a very simple game. I'm sure that you as a former member of the yakuza have seen this game in play even if you have not played it yourself, just not in representations like this."

"May I ask why Chevy-kun is still tied up?"

"He is my representation.

"One round! If you win, I will let you and your crew with the exception of Monsieur Killer and Kidd-dono go free with an Eternal Pose to the nearest inhabited island on Grand Line- because of course, as wanted criminals, I cannot simply let them go, but as long as you are safe yourself, I don't see you caring much. If you lose, obviously, you die. Your corpse becomes mine to torture your father with as I wish, and the rest of your crew is at my disposal."

"One game?" Not that it was the right moment to notice, but Kidd found it funny how his shipwright was reduced to such choppiness in words and sentences.

"One fair, easy game."

"Of what sort? I beat you in them all. Chess? Faro? Poker? Roulette?"

"Roulette," Rosier selected with a smile.

"But there is no number spinner."

"Roulette," Rosier echoed. He pulled out a gun from his breast pocket, and inserted one single bullet into the one of the eight bullet slots. Hiroki recognized that type of gun immediately, and watched with widened eyes as it was lay on the table between him and Chevy. It was a revolver. "_Russian _Roulette."


	36. When Luck Isn't Enough

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _yumeniai, Dogychou, cloverkeat, Allycat18, RedValentino, ChibiFluffy, _and _doriansburial_ for reviewing!

Well, I updated early because of two reasons. One, there has been too many late updates lately, and that's not right at all for you guys when I promised you that each update will be no later than five days. Two, it's because today is my birthday (Even though my folks don't celebrate it today because of what happened here in the USA. We're not Americans, but our community is pretty patriot)! It feels so cool for update on my own birthday for some reason! It is only nine here in case any of you are wondering. I got three more hours to go. :P Either ways, enjoy it! One more chapter and this arc is closed! Woot!

On another note, to gift arts/ birthday arts and dedications out there... YOU GUYS ARE FREAKIN' WONDERFUL! I never expected to get so much for this fic, it's just….wow! I'm not suppose to respond to people in chapters since fanfictiondonet has a rule against that, but screw rules! I'm doing it anyway! Here are some links and thanks:

To Dogychou:

A gift art and a birthday art before I can update? Thank you so much! I really wish that I can gush better without sounding like a total idiot, but I can't! And besides, my family was looking at me all weird today because I was grinning nonstop, so I think I've embarrassed myself quite enough for one day.

Links: http : / / dogychou. Deviantart. Com/ # / d2yii04 and Http : / /dogychou. deviantart. Com /# / d2yf7zp

To doriansburial:

That was hot! Chocolate syrup for the win! XD But, since you didn't upload it on DeviantArt, I wasn't sure if I should post a link here or not. If you would allow me, I'll post it next chapter. If not, I'll just keep it in my collection and enjoy it myself! Thank you again and again and again times a million!

To Skadi-Skadi-no-mi:

Thanks for the dedications, and thanks for drawing fanarts for the neglected ones (they really need more love)! But your newest one is probably your best one yet; I can totally imagine Kidd doing that, being the idiot I imagine him being. Would Robin be proud of Killer...

Link: http : / / Skadi-Skadi-No-Mi. Deviantart. Com/ art/ Tactics- 15-178793614? q=&qo=

* * *

"What's Russian Roulette?"

For one silent moment, nobody answered him. The room became so unbearably cold that goosebumps began forming on his skin. Their captors froze at the decline in temperature, but slowly disregarded it when they sensed that nothing else was going wrong. The four brothers seemed to have stopped breathing, as Kidd saw no movement from any of them. Everything became stilled.

Rosier suddenly smiled again. "I wish your back isn't turned to your crewmates, Hiroki. Your face is priceless!" he whispered, though loud enough for everyone to hear. "Isn't that right, Monsieur Chevy?"

At his name, Chevy instantly started to struggle again, thrashing against his confinement more than ever. His body flopped on the chair as rattling of chains and protests could be heard by the walls where his brothers hung.

"Calm him," Rosier commanded, and one guard rushed up and injected a single needle into an exposed upper arm.

Chevy exploded in muffled screams. He kicked, spun wildly, only to find himself in even more pain as the needle dug into muscles.

Then, slowly, he slumped on the floor, covered in sweat, but seemed to have been put into a trance.

"Put him back on the chair."

Kidd's hands balled into fists as he watched, chained against the wall. Sure, he didn't know the brothers for that long, but this was his crew, and in his mind, the only person that had the authority to inflict any sort of torture upon a nakama would be him- the captain! His glare went from Chevy to his unmoving shipwright, whom he could not see the face of, to said shipwright's bastard of a cousin. Nobody was to control his crew but him!

However, this was not the time. Hiroki had yet responded to the challenge, which meant that something was very, _very_ wrong.

"Killer," he called out once again, trying to push away the anger for just long enough to hear an answer. "What is Russian Roulette?"

The masked man's cold rage broke for a single minute, and the mask turned his direction.

Killer forced himself to loosen his clenched jaws and explained. "Russian Roulette," he said to his idiot of a captain, "is a game originated nearly three hundred years ago in Impel Down. It was invented by a man called "Red Coat" Russio; he was the head warden. He earned the title "Red Coat" because it was rumored that his torture of the prisoners was so merciless, his white warden's coat couldn't be seen without blood stains.

"He invented Russian Roulette as a pass time, and often forced prisoners to play with him. He was rumored to be a Logia too, so the bullets could not harm him. The World Government finally discovered the existence of his game after over eighty of the one hundred million beri big-shots mysteriously died before execution. Russio was convicted of ruthless man-slaughtering and had been sentenced to death row, but died in his cell playing a final game using a stolen revolver. The bullet killed him that time because he was wearing Seastone cuffs.

"Over the centuries, rules of the game varied, but the easiest and the most popular of the varieties is to just spin the revolver's bullet slots and shoot themselves until someone is unlucky enough to be killed by the single bullet. So unless one of those two gets his brain blown out, this game won't be over."

"But that means..." Kidd quickly turned back to the two seats in front of the tables, and the standing man behind Chevy, who looked at his victims with triumph. "That coward!" the redhead snarled. "Representation, my ass!"

"I don't see what the big worry is," a forgotten voice calmly cut in. They looked over to Rozara, who approached them with a happy smirk. "After all, whether your shipwright wins or not, your fates will still be the same." The pirate captain death-glared her as she wrapped a hand around his neck and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Oh...I am going to have so much fun with you, you and your masked friend. I can imagine it already, how he'd look while I humiliate his captain in front of him."

At the mention of Killer, the lid on his rage blew off.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE, BITCH!" Kidd roared before Killer even had the chance to get over his bewilderment and get angry. She flinched and drew back in surprise at the unexpected outburst."IF YOU TOUCH KILLER, I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!"

Stunned silence stretched between the three as the rage quickly faded from Kidd's face. _What the hell did I just..._

"...Kidd? Is there something I should know about?" Killer all but demanded.

He bit his inner cheeks and did not answer. Chagrin... Possibly the worst feeling he'd ever experienced, came at full force. He really thought that he'd said nothing wrong, but somehow, it felt like he'd made a big mistake, or let out a big secret or something. He didn't like it one bit.

But it wasn't the only thing he couldn't stand. Other quirks emerged over time too, all of them surrounding Killer, whom he was trying his best not to look at right now. He couldn't stand the thought of Killer paying attention to someone not him unless he knew that the person could never capture the masked man's full attention. Even if it was a kick in the gut, or a punch, he found himself enduring those, even though he also found them unlikable. Because it meant that Killer...cared.

Although he stopped mentioning this subject, the longing still nagged him everyday; his first mate still hadn't acknowledged him as Captain. Somehow, this situation projected an image in his mind of Killer standing in a room that with a big, giant hole in the wall, as if the masked man had the freedom to leave whenever he wanted to.

Killer leaving... No, he shook the thought off, not wanting to think about it.

There were many other ones. Minor ones. But one thing was for sure; he refused to let a woman take Killer away from his grasp!

"How possessive," Rozara finally said, recovered. "And I wasn't even speaking of harming him. But perhaps... _that_ would be more of a torture for you... wouldn't it?"

Kidd was too enraged for words as she laughed.

"I get it!" she crowed. "I get why now! You're _that_ kind of a man! No wonder you were able to resist me!"

"What the hell are you on about?" Killer snarled. "What did you do to him?"

She smiled at him, dreamily sparks twinkled in her eyes as she touched the whip by her side. "Why, would you really like to kn-"

"Shut up!" Kidd snapped.

They stared at him. The embarrassment was at its highest, but despite everything, he wouldn't have it. Killer couldn't know, he wouldn't let him know now no matter what it cost!

"It seems like he doesn't want you to know," Rozara said, beginning to walk towards the exit. "Let him tell you himself, Monsieur Killer. Maybe he can do better." She turned around and gave them a final smirk. "You will see me later, my puppies."

"What the hell does she mean, Kidd?" Killer growled, when she left.

"I'll tell you later," he answered through gritted teeth.

The feeling of being watched by his first mate lingered for a few more seconds, until he heard the rustle of chains, indicating that Killer had turned away.

* * *

"That's not much of a choice you've given me, cousin. If I lose, I lose. If I win, I still lose." He paused, and looked into Rosier's face. "If I lose, not only will I be dead, but so will everyone else. If I win, Chevy-kun, my captain, and Killer-san will be killed. There is no way that the rest of my nakamas will forgive me; thus, I will have to resort to killing them as well if I want to live myself. In the end, the only person who gains anything is you. Am I not correct?"

"You can intercept it that way, yes," Rosier answered. "But I hardly imagine you, a Shinoda, to be a person who cares about others! Killing them won't be a problem for you, or will it?"

"I take that you don't understand my intention of joining this crew at all," Hiroki said. "If my intention was just to escape my father's thumb, I would've done so a long ago and gone into hiding. But, I don't want to hid.

"I have no plan of losing my crew anytime soon."

"Too bad." Plain, and simple two words response.

Chevy stared at him from across the table with plead behind those tired eyes. He could see that the teen was trying to muster as much energy as he could, trying to fight the mellowness that the drug had induced on him. Behind his back, eyes watched hims wearily, mainly from the rest of the brothers.

He extended out a hand and picked up the gun.

They erupted into muffled protests once more, and Rosier smiled widely.

"Please listen to me," he spoke, out and clear as he cocked the gun. The click silenced them. "Sencho? Killer-san?" The two, over with their debate, focused on him. Kidd's eyes narrowed, seeing the revolver in his hand. "You two, please listen to me-" At this time, Chuckie had chewed a hole through the duct tape and gasped. "DON'T KILL MY NII-SAN!" he cried, and started sobbing at the top of his lung. "I DON'T WANNA DIEEEEEEE!"

"Shut up, you shrimp!" Kidd snapped, keeping his sight on his shipwright, who appeared unusually calm. _What the hell is he up to this time?_

"They say, 'it's all about luck' in games like this," Hiroki started. "However, I believe that I will need more than luck right now to win for us. I need to borrow your skill."

Rosier chuckled, hearing it. "Oh, you may borrow all the skills from you captain as you'd like, cousin! Providing that he can... help in his condition."

Kidd glared at the smug man, but otherwise made no move. "Borrow what?"

"That is all," the shipwright ended his little message.

"Oi, what are you-"

"Has our Log Pose set yet?" Killer interrupted before he could complete demanding an explanation. The question pulled him back.

"...What are you talking about? We don't have a-" He stopped, flexed his hands and slowly smirked, much to Rosier's confusion. "Oh... I get it." Then out loud. "Play it! Just give me the signal!"

"Roger."

* * *

_Bam!_

What skill could possibly be of use in a game like this?

"Blank," Hiroki said, putting down the gun for him to take. Rosier swiped it off the table, spun it and cocked it, readying it at the captured teen's head. He pulled the trigger.

Blank.

Something wasn't quite right here, and it was as if they had left just the barest hint to frustrate him.

"Blank."

His cousin, whose face just a few minutes ago was so wonderfully angry, had became a closed book with blank cover.

Another blank shot. He set the gun down.

His attention immediately turned to the silent prisoners against the wall. The little boy who had been bawling earlier was now watching, sniffing his nose every once in a while. His older brothers remained quiet, glared at him when he looked at them. The masked man's face was, of course, masked; the cold air he was projecting had still not gone fully away. Rosier took a moment longer to observe this man. Suspicions of what that strange power might be flashed through his mind, but he eventually brushed them aside. It had caused no harm, and could probably just be a side effect of emotion-control. Strange people existed in this world, and he had witnessed plenty of those lots himself.

The problem, however, was the captain.

Sneering haughtily, Eustass Kidd did not move an inch.

"Blank."

He did his turn. Another blank.

_He supposedly defeated Takamaru, a Logia with the power of the Iwa Iwa no mi, a rock man. _

_Rock... Skill... Blank shots..._

"Blank."

Rosier picked the gun up, missing the slight wave of Hiroki's index finger.

_BAM!_ The revolver went off in his hand, the bullet missed his head by millimeters and he dropped the gun in shock. _What? But I didn't pull the trigger, and how was the bullet- No...It's _him_!_

"...Damn it," Kidd hissed from his place. "I missed; I was a little too slow. Not that it matters anymore." And he ripped himself loose from the chains.

* * *

_Took him long enough, _Killer thought as he broke free just in time to meet the three attacking guards. One's head disconnected from his body, the next fell dead by a slice right through the heart, and the third flew across the room by a kick, snapping his neck as he collided with the concrete wall.

"Let's go," he said to the three brothers still chained against the wall. "That idiot played with the chaining systems in the wall. You can all move now."

They didn't need to be told twice.

Mustang punched away a guard. "Come with me, Chuckie, Camry! We'll get Chevy and run for the ship!"

"Set sail first before they can take _Maria_," Killer commanded as he sliced. "We'll catch up to you later."

"Got it- Oi, Camry, what are you doing? Where are you going? CAMRY? ...Shit, let's go!" The oldest and the youngest dodged flying blades, got their stolen weapons which were inside the wall, which Kidd had coincidentally knocked down, and slipped to their still tied up brother. Mustang slung Chevy over one shoulder and carried his bazooka on the other.

He took a careful aim at a coming crowd. "Outta our way, you bastards!"

_BOOM!_

* * *

Some guards followed the three escaping brothers on their way out, but it wasn't anything that Hiroki saw as a worry. The bigger worry had already left just a few minutes before the three.

Right now, he did nothing but dodge, and occasional killing when he had the chance to. It was a good thing that he was faster than Rosier, otherwise, it would've never worked. But that wasn't the main objective right now. He spared some glances at his captain, and saw Kidd furiously plowing through a group of men with a giant hand. The single attack broke the wall down and extended the battle into different rooms. As of so far, five rooms had joined as one.

_Killer-san could_, he thought as he jumped out of the way again. _But I think Kidd-sama might find it more satisfying. It will also be great practice for him._

"Sencho!" he called, drawing Kidd's attention just as the last of those poor men were crushed. He leaped towards the redhead, and Rosier followed steadily behind. "Take care of him for me, will you?"

"Wait what? You-"

Hiroki jumped high and kicked some stranger in black suit's face flat before heading for the exit. The sound of fighting between Rosier and Kidd ensued.

"Where are you going?" Killer asked him as he passed by.

He stopped for a moment, taking time to disrupt some nerve points. "After Camry-san. He's making a big mistake."

The masked man nodded, and went on living up to his name.

"I will head to look for the ship afterwards. If I'm not there by the end of the day, you can tell Sencho that he's free to sail without me," he said, and ran out.

Ten minutes and half way to the royal palace later, the House of Seas and Stars exploded apart behind him, throwing the city into chaos.

* * *

Dolores' body hit the smooth floor with a loud _thud_. The side of her skull hurt from the impact, and she couldn't be sure if the guard that had "escorted" her did not leave break the bones in her left arm. She was clean- they had bathed her, yet, the floor felt cleaner than her. Her body drew together in a fetal position, huddling on the floor of dust particles and footprints as an obese man with a crown on his head leered at her overhead.

"So it's true. Blue hair, blue eyes and beautiful, " Prince Louis XXI said, obviously very pleased. "She's perfect for what I want to do! You," He pointed to the guard from the House of Seas and Stars. "Go and tell Rosier that he's not getting her back. I will send in the money for the slave tomorrow."

The guard blinked. "B- But Your Highness, I'm not authorized to sell slaves on the spot-"

"Just do what I say!" Louis roared. "I am the prince! If you don't, I'll execute you!"

"...Ye- Yes, Your Highness," the guard stuttered, and retreated.

Pure dread stirred her stomach as the footsteps grew fainter and fainter. A hand placed itself in the middle of her bosoms, and she froze with fright. The gag in her mouth was taken off.

"I heard that you're called Lolita, is that right?"

A choke and a sob broke from her throat, and Dolores tried her best to lean away from him.

"Meh," Louis said moments later. "Who cares. As long as you have blue hair." Then turning away from her, he shouted to the nearest servant. "Bring them in! Every single one of them!"

_Who..._ she thought faintly, trying to look up.

A line of girls, all in cuffs and chains and nearly no wears. The servants dragged them along, not caring at all if they fell or cried. There were six of them, some looking more miserable than she'd ever felt herself being, and they were all incredibly beautiful.

They took one look at her and paled. Some broke down in tears.

It was then that she noticed another thing about them; from their formation, they looked like someone was trying to form rainbow. There was a redhead with wavy hair and matching red eyes, an orange-head with bright orange eyes like gems, a blond... In fact, the only color missing was... _Blue._

_No._

"Harharharharhar!" Louis laughed as someone roughly dragged her up and pushed her in between the green-headed girl and the Indigo-headed, both shivered and looked away as she bumped into them. "I finally did it! Damn, did that take some time. Who knows that it'd be so hard to find a pretty whore with blue hair and blue eyes? I had less trouble with the green-haired one! Bring in the crosses and the pyres!"

_No. No... NO!_

The redhead woman began thrashing, but was quickly stopped as a servant kicked her legs, bringing her down on her knees.

"YOU CRAZY MAN!" she cried in hoarse voice as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL! GO DIE! _GO DIE!_ I HAD A BABY! YOU KILLED MY BABY! GO-" "SILENCE HER!" _BAM!_

And she fully collapsed, the last will to fight beaten out of her.

_What is happening? _Dolores watched as pyres and crosses were set up. _He is... he is..._

"Tie them up!"

"In case you're wondering what," the green-head suddenly spoke to her in monotone. "He's going to kill us. We're going to be burned." Her eyes watered. "All because he wanted to know what color burns the fastest."

_Oh..._ She slowly nodded.

So this was it. This was her life? _Should I expect any less? _

She felt herself being tied to a cross, and later, the smell of smoke and a warm feeling creeping towards her feet.

_At least... I'll be burned to death._

"Bring the food in! I want to enjoy this! Harharharhar-"

A dying scream fill the air and the door burst down. A boomerang zoomed by, knocking over three yet prepared pyres and struck the wall on the other side, nearly missing the prince's head.

"YOU WON'T ENJOY ANYTHING!"


	37. Having Words

**Author's Note:** Thanks goes to _yumeniai, doriansburial, dogychou, quiveringflame, poisonliz, Tally Mai-chan, Skadi-Skadi-no-mi_, and _QuietInsomniac_ for reviewing!

Well, here's the b-day present from doriansburial- or Cortauri now, I guess, since she got a new account. Thank you, dearie! :D Link: http: / / cortauri. Deviantart. Com / # / d2ywlz3

Let me just begin by saying that you guys don't know how guilty you all make me feel, but there's really nothing much I can do except to write with what little time I have. I can say right now that I have literally zero minute for this fic (and fanfictions in general) on weekdays- my schedule is jam-packed with homework, work, school and other things. I hope I can get in at least one chapter written on the weekends, and possibly half a chapter done for the next so I can at least get three updates in two weeks in. I did promise someone that I'd get Bat-chan in the crew by Chinese New Year, and I'm not backing out on that! :O

Second... _**I LIED AGAIN! BUT IT'S NOT INTENTIONAL, I PROMISE!**_ Sorry, but this turned out not to be the last chapter of the arc. ._. I didn't realize that what I've planned would take so long: believe it or not, chapter 34 and 35 were suppose to be one chapter, and the last chapter, this chapter and the next chapter were one chapter, too, in my outline... I suck at planning. So Sorry. T_T Luckily, I know _exactly_ how the next one goes, so hopefully, I can scrape time tomorrow in the middle of homework and maybe some time on Monday if I'm lucky and have it completed soon. *Prays that her planning doesn't suck again*

The third thing... I just read over some previous chapters, and was cringing all the way through it. My grammar is atrocious; mistakes were littered all over the place and whatnot (and probably the same for this chapter too. I'm terrible at self-editing). So if I find more time, I'll probably be editing them again, and some will eventually have to be rewritten once I finish the story.

Enjoy... Damn, my ANs are long.

* * *

It had been hard getting into the castle; the guards simply would not let him pass. In any other situations, Camry would deem such rejection understandable. However, to him, being understanding did not apply here and now. The more they pushed him back, the madder he became.

They knew it! They knew that there was an innocent women inside being violated and they still did nothing! Pirates and criminals, he would still not forgive, but at least he expected such of those bunch, but this was royal soldiers, defenders of a country! Yet, they owed their loyalty more to a tyrant than the honor of men! Never in his life had he heard of something so outrageous.

He brought down the edge of his boomerangs onto their spines, snapping them into twos, and moved on, running as a squad of palace guards chased after him.

He kicked open doors and kept on going, not taking any note of what state of panic he was causing.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT PRINCE?" he roared as he punched down a guard, and swung his boomerangs at the closing crowd again. The two spinning projectiles knocked down a good half of the chasers before returning to him. Receiving no answer from the poor man beside his feet, he proceeded running and kicking down doors once more.

"...the food in! I want to enjoy this! Harharharharhar-"

_THERE'S THAT BASTARD!_

_BOOM!_

"YOU WON'T ENJOY ANYTHING!"

And he froze at the sight in front of him.

"...What the hell?"

What the hell were not the least of it. Camry stopped dead in his track, his second spinning boomerang which he had intended to throw hit the floor as its wielder stared at the unexpected scenario. He had been prepared for anything- both mentally and physically, but this... This just wasn't it!

_Why are they tied to crosses? And why are there so many of them? I thought it was just Dora!_

"Who the hell is that person?" Louis, snapping out of his shock, demanded. "This is my private entertainment room! Nobody is suppose to be here with my permission!"

_Not the time to hesitate now_, the Mohawk man decided, glaring at the prince as the girls who were already tied to their pyres began writhing in their confinements. One started to cry as the flame reached her feet, and her legs began thrashing, determined to break free from the cuffs which held her there before the fire could burn her flesh. _Whatever the hell this is, I'm fucking stopping it!_

"Seize him!" the royalty commanded. "He will not ruin my experiment!"

* * *

Dolores was frozen stiff.

What was that man doing?

No, that was a foolish question, especially when she knew exactly what he was doing. But why? Didn't he know that he would be killed? Was he stupid? Insane? She was someone of few emotions- the most extreme that she'd ever felt was fear, shame being the second. The rest of the time, all that was hollowness. But this was perhaps the first time in her life that she felt utterly stupefied.

Blood spilled in front of her like water. She watched as he plowed through the guards one by one like a madden beast, watched as he was overpowered, hearing the protesting screams of other girls beside her, hearing some wrenching themselves out of their cuffs and off the pyres.

"OI, DORA-" he managed to call to her before losing his stand, overwhelmed by attackers.

Was he just here to rescue her? Dolores found herself almost smiling.

One of her hands tugged at the cuffs. Could she break free?

"What the hell are you doing, bimbo?" someone shouted- the cuffs suddenly snapping open with clicks-, and yanked her down. She flinched and stared into the face of the enraged woman- the red-haired one from before. "Don't just fucking stand there! He's saving us! Fight them! You want to be free? Stop standing around and fight them, idiot!"

_Right...Fight back... Fight!_

"How dare you barge into my palace!" the prince screeched as the pirate got up again from being knocked down. "AND WHY ARE THE WHORES NOT ROUNDED UP YET? I SAID ROUND 'EM UP, YOU LAZY GOOD-FOR-NOTHINGS! CAPTURE HIM; HE RUINED EVERYTHING! I'LL SLOWLY STARVE HIM TO DEATH IN THE DUNGEON!"

She picked up a broken piece of a pyre, and without thinking, swung it at the nearest person. Immediately, her hands began shaking and sweating as her victim collapsed on the ground.

Of course, with all the struggling and fighting of the other girls around her, not much attention was paid. Three of the girls battled back to back, probably just as frightened as her, but even more scared at the possibility of dying. The redheaded women was literally ripping out throats, swinging a sword blindly in front of her like a madwoman, heading for the prince, although the result was feeble.

But what she did scared her. She began to whimper, backing off from the body. She'd just killed someone! The pyre piece fell out of her slippery palms. What will they do to her? What should she do now? Her hands flew to her mouth as she found herself gagging through her sobs.

"Stand still!"

_Bam!_ The blow struck on her on the back, beating her down to the floor.

"Sorry, but this is my damn job," the voice of the figure looming above her muttered, and she spun around to look into the face of a guard in uniform. "Just stand still and be captured!"

_No!_

Her groping hands found the pyre piece again and swung it upward at his face before he could do a thing.

Across the room, Camry was attempting to get up once more.

His clothes were badly tattered and beaten, and the cuts and bruises all over his body that didn't help the situation any. Both of his boomerangs were out of his range. He wasn't sure if his forehead was bleeding or not, only that it hurt like hell. But those weren't the important things.

Right now, he was sneering with hatred as the fat chicken that was the son of the crown of this pathetic excuse of a kingdom screeched pitch-high, trying to kick him off; he had a grip around one of Louis' ankles, and was currently trying to remember the best way to break a duck's neck from the times when he used to make that sort of kill.

"I WILL BEHEAD YOU AND FEED YOUR BODY TO THE DOGS!" Louis continued his meaningless threats as he tried to tug his feet away, successfully at landing a kick at his captor's face, but completely missed his objective. "I AM THE PRINCE! YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"I don't give a fuck if you're a prince or not! Anyone who treat people like this deserves to die, you son of a bitch!" he snarled back, tightening the grip on the ankle. His other hand had set on the ground, and with one swift movement, Camry pushed himself back on his feet, dragging Louis' ankle up.

The prince howled, terrified more than ever as his head bonked loudly on the glossy floor-tiles. There was a sickening crunch following soon after- the sound of bones shattering- and Louis' scream as his ankle joints and bones were distorted and broken.

Camry punched away two coming soldiers before turning back to him.

"I will deal with you first, you piece of shit!" he spat down as the obese man tried to crawl as far away as he could. "How dare you treat human beings like this- and women too! Someone like you don't have the right to live!"

Tears and snot run like waterfall down Louis' face as his pathetic attempts rendered useless with each closing step that Camry took "I- I am the prince! If you kill me, you'll never be forgiven! You'll be branded a criminal forever!"

"Who gives a fuck!" the pirate's knuckles clenched.

"You- You won't get away with this! I- I have guards! BRING MORE GUARDS! KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!"

A closing roar from the hall pulled him away for just a second.

"Haha! S- See?" Louis crowed, still quivering in place. "There's the reinforcement right there! Now you die! Now you die!"

"Shut up!" he snarled back, turned, prepared to take on whatever as people fled around him.

"They are different, you fool!" the prince continued as he was being helped up by the remaining servants, who had formed a circle around him, all the while aiming their weapons at Camry. "They are trained and elite infantries! You dare to intrude this castle and assault me, and this is what you get!"

_You annoying bastard!_ "I'll still be alive to kill you later!"

_Bam! _His fist collided with the first of them, hitting the soldier dead on the nose and took the spear out of the fallen man's hand. Three more spears came crashing down at once.

"THAT'S IT! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

"DORA!" he shouted over the noise towards the fighting bunch women who were being pushed to the side. "YOU ALL GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE YOU GET KILLED!" A spear edge unexpectedly stabbed deep into his left arm sending him reeling back in agony.

But the girls at least had a chance now, even as screams of orders to not let them get away rung in his ears. The violet-haired woman seemed to have taken the lead with the red-haired one right behind her.

"Oi!" the redhead suddenly screamed at him from across the room. "Watch out!"

_What-_

A sword impaled his stomach.

"THERE! YOU GOT HIM!" Louis screamed victoriously. "YOU GOT HIM! NOW DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY! I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED MY EXPERIMENT!"

_No! _Camry cried furiously as he felt the sword being carelessly pulled out of him. Blood flooded his taste buds, spewed out of his mouth; red puddled beneath his shoe, and soon his clothes were drenched wet when he fell down in it. His body numbed from the pain. Yet, he still tried to move as they advanced towards the escapees.

But they didn't get very far with the capturing.

A wind blew into the room for one second, followed by a black, speeding blur. The movement was too fast for him to make out, and the whisper would've been too low for him to hear, had the person not stopped by his side when finished.

"_Point Thirty-One."_

The entire small army instantly stilled at those words, and slowly over the course of a minute, fell one by one.

Camry's eyes widened with disbelief at it.

"How..." He faced up.

"You look horrible," Hiroki finally said, looking down at him with a slight concern. "I hope you learn what result rash decisions can cause, Camry-san."

"You..."

The shipwright turned his sight back to his front. "I hope I didn't accidentally kill any innocent people. That would've been too bad, since I wasn't really attentive on the identity of my targets. Can you move?"

He was about to answer no, but someone already cut in.

"You... You're Rosier's cousin!" Louis screeched with rage. "How dare you kill my men! I will have you executed as well, and not even Rosier will be able to save you this time!"

A calm raise of an eyebrow. "Since you're harming a nakama of mine, I have every right under the sun to invade your palace and kill," came the simple answer.

"THIS IS TREASON!" the prince roared. "BOTH OF YOU WILL BE PUT TO DEATH IMMEDIATELY! HOW DARE YOU SCUMS OF A BLUE DEFY AND ATTACK SOMEONE LIKE ME!"

Camry watched from below as his crew mate's lips curved up into the smallest smile, and gave a small flinch as the face became unreadable. Later, he will learn that look as one to be frightened of.

"If you still can, Camry-san, run."

* * *

"You're a Devil Fruit user."

God of Obviousness at its best. Kidd sneered at his enemy from across the room, gathering more and more metallic objects on his left arm as zooming projectiles with sharp blades killed whomever that dared to come near him. Soon enough, the minor henchmen had learned from their dead comrades and their employee's face that this was a fighting to stay out of.

Rosier smirked back. "A Paramecia, in fact! Am I not right? Interesting! I wasn't expecting that from you, Kidd-dono, since you have yet displayed your power until today! Quite a nice use of the element of surprise, I compliment you!"

"You and your friendly-acts..." the redhead spat, nerves irking beneath the boiling rage he felt. "I can see how you and that bastard shipwright of mine are related." The "fingers" of his completed arm twitched.

"I was merely making an observation," the man said back. "And from what I can gather, your power isn't something much of a challenge! You see, this is Grand Line, after all. I am quite used to dealing with Devil Fruit users throughout my journey here! I've encountered all types... Defeated some... If not nearly all..."

"Are you calling me weak?" Kidd all but snarled, his teeth bared, ready to murder.

The smile on that cold face widened. "I said no such thing. But, if you insist on taking my words that way, yes."

And the pirate captain attacked.

* * *

Now that Kidd took on the boss of this whole drama, Killer instantly found himself surrounded by the rest of the fighters, whom he went through like a lawnmower through a grass field; it got tiring and boring after a while, and it was only minutes later that he decided to stop wasting time and just head for his objective of the moment.

The fight had thrown the House of Seas and Stars into a complete catastrophe. Apparently, words traveled to prostitutes' ears fast. By now, there were little breakouts occurring all throughout the manor, and it did kept his chasers distracted every time he went near one of them.

Running away, however, wasn't the objective.

He spot the woman coming in his direction, having just stepped out from the garden. Rozara's eyes instantly narrowed at the scenario that she'd obviously not expected, and her red pupils found themselves pinpointing the masked man in front of her.

"Hmph." She sighed to herself. "Rosier, you fucked up."

The Massacre Man stepped closer. "I want a word with you," he said coldly.

_A word, huh? _One of her eyebrows raised. "I took a short walk and look what already happened! What a surprise! You pirates are ...different," she commented as her underlings arrived and formed a semi-circle around Killer, guns and swords pointed. She held out a commanding hand up, not taking her eyes off the man. "Halt! Hold your fires!"

They obeyed, and slowly backed off.

"I will take care of him. Go beat down the rebellions," she ordered.

Rozara waited until they all left. Then, once alone with Killer, she approached him slowly until they were a foot apart.

"You sought me out after so little time of knowing each other, Monsieur Killer?" she purred teasingly. "I'm flattered, but perhaps this isn't the best time-"

"What have you done to Kidd?" the masked man growled before the mockery could continue further. His hands had tight grips around his scythe handles, ready to move.

Her lips twitched with amusement at the anger laced in his voice. "What did I do to him?" she echoed. "Why, I simply opened a new door for him. You should be thankful, my dear." And she leaned closer, right up to his mask, as if looking into his eyes through the small holes. He flinched away as soon as she did so. "He's so innocent, it would never work out have I not planted such idea in his head!" She leaned away, tsking her tongue. "Sadly, we have different plans for you and him; I was only promised three days of fun!"

The cold air did not escape her notice, and when a scythe was by her throat, she wasn't startled by it at all.

"You..." the man hissed at her, pressing the blade against her skin. "You keep your hands off of him! I won't have you ruin him!"

"That's not an option," she bluntly stated, smiling back at him. "I see that he's not the only one possessive of someone! This should make things a lot more fun when the time comes... Say... How do you picture him, my love? Would you like his mouth sealed? Hung by his waist and limbs in midair? You seems quite fond of your blades! Can you picture him crying as you slowly dig them into his skin-"

Rozara barely dodged in time for the swing of the scythe, and landed further away, clutching her bleeding neck, the wound just past skin-deep.

"HE'S A CHILD, YOU SICK BITCH!" Killer screamed at her.

She shot him a crazy look. "A child? He looks like a child to you? Ha!" she taunted. "Is that what's stopping you? How simply ridiculous!"

"What the hell are you implying!" the masked man asked her, his aura getting more and more dangerous with each passing second. "He is stupid and a brat! If that's not a child, then what is? I don't care if he looks like one or not! My goal is to make him the King of Pirates, and I won't let anything get in my way, especially your filling his head with perverted ideas!"

The smile was gone. All seduction were pushed aside. Rozara stood up, sneering, and pulled on her whip.

"You are not keeping him innocent, you are making him ignorant." She glowered at him, flickering the long leather strip. "You are a fool, the exact kind of man who thinks he knows the best but only knows shit."

Killer narrowed his eyes beneath his mask, and rage shot through his bloodstream furiously. He knew shit? Him? _What the hell is fucking wrong with her? I know what I'm talking about! How dare she question what's right!_ His hands twitched, more than ready to dice the bitch into pieces.

What else could he expect from someone like her?

"I will first beat you into submission," Rozara promised, licking her lips. "And once I do, I'll show you that desire cannot be denied."

* * *

_BOOM!_

Kidd's eyes widened in surprise as he covered his face with his free hand. How was it even possible? No, he corrected himself the next instant, it was perfectly possible, just not what he expected, because as of yet nobody else had done it. With enough strength, someone was bound to be able to knock apart his "arm" sooner or later. But the thing was, this wasn't physical strength he was up against.

Rosier was different. In all the other times fighting someone, it didn't take him long to decipher his opponent's fighting techniques, may it be a Devil Fruit, Sea Stones, or pure brutish muscle power.

This man fought him almost effortlessly, kicking apart his arm every time he hurled an attack, and hitting him without touching him, like an invisible force field was surrounding this bastard, repelling Kidd away and protecting him from whatever. No wonder Killer somehow got pushed back earlier. What sort of power was he even using?

A cough, and the taste of blood flooded his mouth.

_Damn it_, the redhead inwardly winced as he crashed through a wall and hit the ground. _I took a hit on the lung. What kind of trick is this?_

"So you're like Takamaru as well," Rosier commented, raising an eyebrow at his current condition, shaking his head with grievance. "Had it not been your Devil Fruit, you couldn't have beaten my men with such ease! Why must you lot be so relying on your powers? It's doing you no good!"

"Shut up!" Kidd growled, getting up.

The man stared at him, an eerie smile pasted on his face. "Would you like to know what I am using, Kidd-dono?"

"I said, 'Shut up!'" the pirate captain shouted.

"Ahahaha! Not to worry! I know that you will not be able to defeat me even if you do know; it's just useless information after all! But since I am a honorable man at heart, I only feel the need to tell you how you die before you die!"

"Let _me_ tell _you_ just how _you're_ going to die!" he snarled, wiping the blood off his lips and regathering his arm. "I'm going to crush you to death! Your body will be torn and shredded into a million pieces until you're no longer recognizable! That's how you're going to die!" The arm was ready once again. "Prepare yourself, damn bastard!"

_BOOM!_

The ground broke into pieces as the mass of metals struck down upon it, but like before, his target quickly dodged with a quick leap.

Rosier's speed made it all too frustration. While he was no where near Killer's swiftness, nor Hiroki's agility, this man was already fast enough for whatever Kidd had in store.

"I told you!" said man crowed, coming from above. "Your Devil Fruit power is nothing against me!"

It wasn't his shipwright's martial art, but the movement was close enough, and the blows a hundred times more heavily. A palm slammed against his abdomen, throwing his backwards. He felt his inner organs _burning_ and howled with pain as ribs cracked and dug against various areas, threatening to break through the skin.

_What the hell is his power!_ Kidd screamed with rage inside his mind as Rosier landed in front of him, sneering and not a single hair out of place.

"Will," he began. "Is psychological . Will put into bodily energy, becomes spiritual. That sort of spiritual energy took me years of training to nurture and master before it manifested to what it is today." He held up an opened hand, and closed it into a fist. "They call it 'Haki'."

Haki... As angry as the redhead was right now, the term rang a distant bell.

Rosier grave him a wide, cold smile. "Now that I've told you, I can freely kill you. Then after this, I'll hunt your crew down one by one."

Haki... Haki... Haki... He tried to concentrate. Couldn't do it. His nails dug into cement.

"Who you would like to join you first, Kidd-dono?" the man inquired on lively, as if he was part of a comedic play. "Ah! I do wonder why I even asked that question! Of course I know exactly whom to cast into the Afterlife after you, the captain. Who better suit that position than your very first mate, I ask! Yes, yes, I believe that Monsieur Killer is out there somewhere wrecking his own havoc at the moment as-"

Then the harem manager suddenly stopped and stilled as something came to mind. The smile froze on his face like it was a pseudo face wear. His eyes flickered towards an opening to the outside with a panicking light.

All this Kidd took no notice of. There was only one thought dancing in the pirate captain's mind at the moment.

This bastard said that he was going to kill Killer.

Hearing it, even though he knew beforehand of what the enemy had planned, somehow just opened a new lid of the container of his temper, and out flooded wrath like never before.

_HOW DARE HE!_

"Who are you going to kill?" The snarl didn't sound like it would be from him. He released his hold on the metal weapons just as Rosier turned his attention back to the matter at hand. The man, just then pale, now grew even more paler. Confusion decorated his face. "He's planning to fight me barehanded?"

No... No something was happening. The objects around them were rattling insanely and most unusually; discarded bombs, guns, and machinery... Rosier slowly backed off from Kidd as he realized what was going to happen.

"This is suicidal and completely unnecessary, Kidd-dono," he commented, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Too bad," the redhead hissed, lifting up a hand of crackling purple electricity, enraged and determined. The rattling objects levitated around around them. "Try and stop this!"

Outside, the struggling crowds of slaves and henchmen stopped as their weapons shook in their hands, looking towards what used to be the guest dining area. Even further out, citizens murmured amongst themselves as various common day objects began acting strangely. By the garden of the House of Seas and Stars, Killer felt a force tugging at scythes, and shot a glance towards Kidd's direction.

Seconds later, the entire manor blew apart.

* * *

"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, CHUCKIE!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING!"

"Well then... RUN _FASTER_, DAMN YOU!"

"THIS IS MY TOP SPEEED!" the youngest brother screamed back. "REN, JUST EAT THE DAMN CAGE ALREADY! MY ARMS HURT!"

"WOOF!" barked the worm from the cage, who had her jaw around a bar, gnawing on it. "WOOF! WOOF! BLEH!"

"I DON'T CARE IF CAGES GIVE YOU STOMACHACHES!" Mustang shouted at her. "JUST PRETEND THAT IT'S A STRAW HUT OR SOMETHING!"

As of now, they had an army of the harem guards hot on their tail as they zoomed down one street after another. The civilians were naturally in a state of great hysteria, and much confusion resulted. Mustang had, like before, Chevy over one shoulder, and his bazooka over the other. Chuckie dragged behind him the cage which held his pet worm, who, while trying to chew her way out of the cage, was getting quite nauseous with the constant thumping of the cage hitting the ground.

"HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE HAVE TO RUN?" the boy asked, getting out of breath as bullets flew pass him. As a side note, he mocked at their chasers' horrible aims, or maybe it was because they were running a zigzag line.

_BOOM!_

_Huh?_ He turned around for a single moment to see the House of Seas and Stars exploding into smithereens, and gasped. "Nii-san! They-"

"I know!" his older brother screamed back. "They can take care of themselves! Our order is to set sail! We'll worry about finding them later!"

"Woof!"

Chuckie hesitated, and gave the manor one last worry look before letting go of Ren's cage as she emerged out, chewing pieces of the iron bar with distaste, which she immediately spat out with three chipped teeth.

"Let's go, girl!" he called to her as their chasers gained ground, only to lose more as Mustang shot off another bomb.

What felt like eternity later, they made it all the way to the harbor, where they mowed down several people- royal guards included- before climbing onto _Maria_. Setting his drugged younger brother and bazooka aside, Mustang threw open the door to the Operation Room and turned on the engine.

"Auto-Paddling activated!" he announced. "Chuckie, use my bazooka and shoot 'em down if they're still following us!"

The paddles landed in the water and immediately started rolling the ship out.

"Chuckie? Are they still following us?" he called out again. "Chuckie?"

"Aniki! Look!" the boy shouted.

"What?" The gunner ran outside.

"They aren't chasing us anymore but... The entire city is on fire!"


	38. Different People

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _doriansburial, RedValentino, cloverkeat, ChibiFluff _(No, don't go! D:), and _yumeniai_ for reviewing!

I did it. I finally finished this chapter!*Cries* This really settles it; my plans don't work out at all. -_-' I still can't believe that the recent three chapters were all supposed to be one; this chapter is twice as long as a normal one and it _still_ feels too rushed. What was I thinking? X.X

Anyhow... I'm so freakin' happy that One Piece is back again! The one month wait was so worth the new chapters: NAMI IS SO SEXY! Robin's hot as hell, as usual. I lol'ed at Sanji's new goatee- he looks hilarious to me! Chopper hasn't lost an ounce of his cuteness, and Brooke being a skeleton sure comes in handy, huh? Luffy's just plain epic... Though, he _still_ hasn't hit puberty. :| I'm a bit undecided on Franky's new changes though; I like the old version better. And Zoro is SO Zoro. Stupid Marimo. XD

Enjoy!

* * *

The flame came like a storm, engulfing the ruins of the harem house, running through the garden, up the wall, and over the piles of bricks and woods. Soon, screams of fear rang in the air like the chorus of a haunting hymn. Outside, the fire invaded through the city by the blue vines and blue leaves that sprouted on the streets and lined the sides of houses and buildings, sending people fleeing out of their homes.

Within the House of Seas and Stars, however, two figures stood face to face.

"That was a bad decision to make, Kidd-dono," Rosier said with a cough. Because the explosion, most of him was covered with black ashes, and now the fire just made it worse. The explosion did more damage than he'd ever thought of; the manor was ruined, his business was ruined, and most importantly, _he_ will be displeased. And when _he_ became angry... The man ground his jaws together with sullen silence as shadows fell over his eyes at the reminder of that particular man.

Across from him, Eustass Kidd didn't look any better either. All sort of shits covered his fur-coat, blood trickled from the corners of his lips down to the tip of his chin, and bruises colored his pale body. Being in this flame circle brought Kidd's hellish appearance to full light; Rosier chuckled in his mind at how fitting the pirate seemed in this scenario.

_A reincarnation of the Devil, surely, _the man mused wearily as the air heated up with each passing second. "Time is ticking, Kidd-dono," he said with a grin. "Let me finish you quickly."

"Just try it, you bastard!"

* * *

The fire was but an annoyance to Kidd. It wasn't that he didn't care about it because he didn't see it as a threat- he did, and it was, but because he was too enraged to give a fuck about anything at the moment- the fire or his injuries. His blood boiled. Adrenaline pumped through his vein in response. He was literally and figuratively seeing red.

Rosier's sins ran through his mind one by one: attacking him and his crew, being a sick-minded bastard, making Killer angry, making _him_ angry, kidnapping his nakamas, putting his nakamas' lives on the line, threatening Killer's life, laughing at his goal... The laundry list encircled his chaotic mind like whirlwind, like the current fire, with the last two of them standing out the most. It was at this moment that he decided something; any sorry bastard who laughs at him and his dream deserves to die. Anyone who dared to bad-mouth the only person whom only he may bad-mouth will burn in Hell!

"_Let me finish you quickly."_

Like in this circle of Hellfire right here.

He wasn't even thinking when he attacked; the lack of control had forced everything back to basic instincts. Forgetting all about his Devil Fruit power- not that it'd be much of a convenience with everything metal in flame- he leaped at his opponent, and threw a punch at Rosier's face, who had just a split of a second to be surprise as the first collided with his nose.

"LAUGH AT ME AGAIN!" Kidd snarled, swinging his fist again. "I DARE YOU, BASTARD!"

It was stopped short. The redhead's mouth pulled back, teeth bared as he struggled with the hold that the other man had his fist in, as hissed in pain as the grasp tightened, threatening to break the bones.

"'The King of Pirate'?" Rosier looked into his face with a sneer. "Hahaha! You are far from achieving such goal, my foolish friend!"

His rage pushed through the roof at the comment, and veins began forming on his arms as he pushed back with all his might. "SHUT UP!"

At the same moment, an alien force unlocked within him, and a high speed wind blasted Rosier almost to the edge of the fire.

The harem manager looked at his with new shock. "How did you...?"

Not listening.

_BAM! _The ground broke as his fist collided with the cement. The crack traveled outwards, splitting an entrance out of the huge circle of flame.

Not good enough! He still hadn't landed a blow on the enemy.

"Impossible!" Rosier whispered as he swiftly leaped and landed behind him. "That sort of power unlocked by pure rage?" His lips twisted into a frown as Kidd came for him. The man met him arm for arm. "Fair or not, it's still not enough!"

And the ground broke again as Kidd's body slammed down upon it.

Pain pounded through his skull and upper body. The agony from the broken rib bones resounded.

_Ignore it!_

He kicked up.

"It's not honorable to aim for another man's nether region during a fight, Kidd-dono," Rosier said while jumping aside, though the humor no longer linger at the edge of his voice.

"SHUT UP!" _BAM!_

Stunned was a mild adjective to describe what the harem manager was feeling at the moment as the punch made him sail backwards, nearly into a pit of flame. With a kick, he managed to avoid the landing and found a footing elsewhere, and immediately got back on his feet, spitting out blood, staring.

_He got too fast!_

_Where the hell did that kind of speed come from?_ Rosier pondered as he watched Kidd charging towards him, uneasiness filling his mind. _And that Haki..._ It had taken him _years_ to reach the level he was at now. How was this pirate rookie able to bring out such power like this? He'd never sensed any signs of it during the week!

_BOOM!_ A high speed wind rippled a ring in the air as they met each other's attack once again. The fire blew around them like a dance. He looked into the pirate's murderous golden eyes- eyes filled with nothing but rage.

_This isn't normal_!

The equilibrium tipped without warning, and Rosier cried with anguish as he was slammed onto the ground, an arm grinding tightly on his neck, choking him.

"Laughing now?" the devil taunted him, digging his elbow straight into his windpipe. "Try laughing at me now, bastard!" There wasn't a hint of amusement in that voice or face. "You should've thought twice about whom you mock! Regret it yet?"

"How..." he gagged out. "How careless of you, my friend... Hehe... You left me an opening!" He aimed a sharp blow directly at the stomach, sending Kidd roaring away as a piece of bone peaked out, tearing the skin. Blood spew out of the new wound, and the pirate was off of him. Rosier gave one final kick at the skull, determined to kill this time.

It didn't work.

It was as if Kidd had suddenly remembered his Devil Fruit power. Hot metal burning red zoomed to meet the foot, the immense heat quickly absorbed by Rosier's leather shoe. A moment later, the man leaped away from the shield, the situation dawning on him as the redhead rose from the ground, the metal shield still in effect.

Dark-red lips twisted up into a smirk.

"What kind of a monster are you?" Kidd heard him question, sounding shaken for the first time.

"Monster?" the redhead echoed with a spat. "You scums." The metals rustled, reflecting his anger as he snarled. "So is that how you people see everything you can't find an explanation for?"

Rosier narrowed his eyes, and slowly shook his head to himself. No, he couldn't fight this... Whatever this person was. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it!

_And if only one of us is going to survive this, Rozara..._

Kidd lifted his arm, purple electricity crackling around it, commanding every single magnetic item around him to levitate.

His enemy suddenly ran for it.

* * *

The fire ignited the garden, crimson flame and dark smoke danced in the air like snakes. The black paint of the iron fence slowly melted from the heat, and the temperature was nearly unbearable to human by this point.

But even so, the icy wrath of Killer still held a strong vibrant as the masked man jumped viciously after his target, scythes striking the ground like thunder as Rozara ran, dodged and once in a while, combat back. Being both long range fighters with similar weapons, one would have thought them to have the same advantage here- it wasn't the case.

She leaped off again as the fast blade came crashed onto the cement ground, and growled under her breath; she hadn't predicted this.

The fastest fighter that she'd ever encountered had been Rosier, who, perfecting his own style of martial art, could moved with deadly swiftness and accuracy that no one could hope to achieve. But this- this wasn't trained speed...

Some times ago, all her weapons had been knocked out of her hand, kicked aside and-

_Bam!_

A scream erupted from her throat as a kick landed on her back, knocking her down.

Killer landed beside her, his shadow flickering across her being from the fire. She looked up, seeing the faceless mask peering down as the icy energy engulfed the surrounding, choking her. Goosebumps formed on her skin at the sudden temperature change.

"For what you did to Kidd, you will pay," the man above her whispered. "You filth!"

_Filth?_ A chuckle broke from between her lips, and she stared up into the mask. _Filth..._ it repeated.

"...I didn't do anything to him," Rozara finally confessed. "If you want to kill me, do it now."

"Don't tell me how to deal with you," he growled at her.

"Hehe," she laughed as blood trickled out of her mouth, slowly sitting up. "You know... If you don't kill me, I will probably die anyway."

A foot struck her on her head, breaking her nose. "I don't give a fuck about people like you. I don't care if you die or not!"

She didn't know how to feel about that, but decided to react with violence once again, trying to land a blow, only to be kicked aside.

_Did I expect anyone to? Of course not._

_Of course not._ The words echoed in Rozara's head as she continued her attempts to successfully attack Killer. The effort remained all in all useless. _Of course not_. The face of _that_ person flashed through her head. Nobody will care about someone like him. Nobody will care about someone like her.

She landed the ground again.

_I don't want to die... Run... I will run. But I'm too tired. How long is he going to keep fighting me? For as long as Rosier's fighting that captain of his?_

_Rosier..._ Killer's scythes were spinning.

_Rosier, help me, you bastard!_

_ROSIER!_

_BOOM!_

Her to-be killer suddenly disappeared.

_What?_

"Get up, Rozara!" the familiar voice of her employer shouted above her, snapping her out of her shock.

"You..." she whispered back, flinching as a black cloak suddenly draped itself around her. "What are you-"

He cut her off. "Run. Now."

She never heard him sounding like this. Why did he come to her at a time like this? Was his trouble taken care of? Did that Kidd-boy...? "Did you kill that Eustass Kidd?" she asked weakly, sensing that something was very wrong as Rosier's expression flickered with slight fear. "You didn't? But how-"

"I told you to run!"

Irritation flooded her system as she backed away. "Where the hell do you want me to run to? And what about you? How are you going to explain this?"

"Just run! That's a order from your master!"

_What the hell?_ Her lips drew back, revealing gritted teeth. "You're not my-"

And again, Rosier cut her off. "_He_'ll kill both of us once he heard of this! You should know his nature better than me! He won't let us live! I'll stay here and handle the pirates. I'm ordering you to run! RUN!"

She stared into his furious face, and shook her head. Just why? Sure they had been partners in crime ever since _he_'d gave her to Rosier but... "...You're stronger. You have a better chance at getting away than me. Why are you...?"

"Because I'm not a Shinoda." he said firmly, then in a smaller voice, "And because, I'm still a believing fool."

She narrowed her eyes.

_Rosier you... You still..._ She shook her head slowly in disbelief. "You are ridiculous!" she snarled at him, watching with rising anger as a smile formed on his face. "If you want to run, run yourself! Don't think of anything between us, you bastard! Why do you insist on saving me when you know-"

"Leave this island at once!"

She flinched at his volume of voice, backing away.

Glaring at him for one last time, she started running just as she heard the whooshing sound of something in the wind.

_What an idiot. And after all these time of my telling you about love and prostitutes, Rosier, you still...Damn hopeless romantics._

A giant explosion shook the ground not moments afterwards, causing her to turn around in time to see masses of red-hot metallic objects laying scattered around Rosier's twitching body, and Eustass Kidd standing beside it, glaring down at his dying enemy as his first mate approached him.

Rozara bit down the temptation to go back, and kept running.

* * *

"Killer!"

It had happened too fast even for him to comprehend. He had been about to kill that woman, scythes out, when a sudden impact knocked him away into a pile of burning wood. It had taken a while to extinguish the fire, but even so, he managed to get out with minor burn marks.

Then Rosier came in, with Kidd following close behind.

He had froze with disbelief as the ball of burning metal came crashing down on Rosier, giving the man zero time to react.

With eyes on the now dead man on the ground, Kidd's grasp on his arm came as a surprise. He jumped at the sudden touch and stared into his captain's relieved face before able to relax himself.

"Killer," Kidd called. "Are you-"

"Let's go," the masked man immediately interrupted at once when he snapped out of his stunned state. "The fire's getting worse. If we don't get out soon, we'll never be able to." And despite what he'd just said, he froze again at the sight of Kidd, who flinched and winced as his first mate's hand placed itself on his bleeding and bruised abdomen.

A queasy, alien feeling stirred the redhead's already hurting stomach, and he felt his face heating up.

"...What did that bastard do to you?"

"This isn't the time," he reasoned. "We need to get back to the ship."

Killer's hand didn't leave his abdomen for another few seconds. Then with a shake of head, the masked man muttered once again, "Let's get out of here then. I'll take care of your wounds after we find _Maria_."

* * *

Nobody stopped them.

At first, Kidd had thought that the fire sparked from somewhere within the manor itself, but now after some time of struggling through the flames and emerging out into the city, he learned that it wasn't the case. Men, women, children, and animals fled out of their homes, clutching onto whatever little belongings that they could get their hands on. Water hoses were everywhere, spraying large amount of ocean water at bases of fires.

Killer and him stood in the middle of a four way intersection, and not a single marine paid attention to them.

"This is impossible!" a civilian shouted as he ran passed the pirates, looking up at a burning structure which was threatening to collapse at the moment. "How can we get a fire like this during autumn?"

"Stop staring, you idiot!" his neighbor screamed at him, running past by. "Let's go take shelter at the edge of the city! The royal army and the marines take care of this!"

"This fire..." Killer muttered. "Isn't a natural thing then? Kidd, you didn't-"

"Of course not!" the redhead snapped. "I'm not this rash!"

Behind the mask, eyes narrowed. "Then who could've-" A familiar shaped silhouette in the distance caught his attention, and a sinking feeling settled within. Kidd followed the direction of his mask, and his sight fell upon the burning castle.

A growl of annoyance escaped past his lips when he spot it, knowing exactly how it started now.

"That damn yakuza! What the hell was he thinking?"

* * *

Camry didn't need to be told twice. The cook got up on his feet instantly, disregarding all his wounds and pain the best he could, picked up his boomerangs, ran for the girls in the corner and kicked the double doors of the room wide open as the bastard prince screeched with rage behind him.

"Let's go!" he shouted at them, ushering them ahead as another line of royal soldiers rushed up from an perpendicular hallway. "Just get out of here!"

_Damn it!_ He swore inside his head, rotating the two giant boomerangs in his hand. The gaping wound in his stomach tore, pouring out blood at his movement. He swung, knocking out a mass of the infantries. _How long can I hold?_

"That way!" one of the girls tugged him. "Don't stay here and fight! You won't make it!"

Despite the burning desire to wipe out more of the bastards, Camry went back focusing on running away.

_Whatever that needs to be done here, Hiroki-san will do it,_ he told himself as they sped down empty corridors with royal guards after them. _Including killing that bastard prince,_ he hoped.

His vision began blurring when the grand gate of the castle was within sight. The sun blinded him for moments before his eyes adjusted. Servants and maids fled out of their way, screaming with terror.

"Hurry, he's losing too much blood!"

_Shit,_ the man cursed as white dots started to appear in his vision. The area around the wound felt numb and nonexistent. He needed to get the girls to safety and run for the ship. ..._How the hell am I suppose to make it?_

"Move!" the red-haired woman cried, punching aside a guard before turning to him. "Oi, who are you though?"

"This isn't the time for questions, Xena," the violet-haired told her. "Open the gate for us! We'll lose them on the streets if we can!"

"I know that already!"

"My name's Camry," the pirate managed to get out, only to end up in a fit of bloody cough.

"Please don't speak!" the violet-haired said. "You'll make it worse!"

The iron gate blasted open with a war cry from the red-haired girl, the enormous strength surprising Camry. Part of him sighed with relief at this display as they arrived outside. So at least some of the girls were fighters. Knowing it comforted him; they would be able to take care of themselves after this. He shot a glance towards a frightened looking Dora, who was holding on to the young Indigo-head girl as she ran with them.

"At least you'll be safe with them," he muttered to her, watching her snap from her astonishment. Her expression turned worry, seeing the amount of blood and injuries on his body. He gave her an assuring smile.

Seconds later, the smile dropped from his face as bright yellow fire abruptly burst into the afternoon sky behind them, breaking through thick glasses and traveling at high speed from the back of the castle to the front, then instantly, using the blue vines lining buildings, engulfed everything upon its path.

Within the first few seconds, the fire had traveled blocks, and screams erupted everywhere.

"...What the hell?" he whispered in a hush as they stopped and turned around with people fleeing from the flame all around them.

"Why is the castle on fire?" someone shouted, running past them.

"THE PRINCE! THE PRINCE IS STILL INSIDE!"

_Hiroki-san is also..._ Camry thought at first. Then his eyes widened as it became clear.

_He... He's the one who did this?_

"Are you coming with us or not?" Xena, the redhead, screamed at him. "We don't have time to watch it burn down!"

"I'm going back in!" the man declared, taking a step forward toward the silhouette in flame.

"What? ...You're crazy!" she exclaimed. "Come with us! You're badly wounded!"

Hands flew to the gape in his stomach, wincing at the pain. He was wounded, very lightheaded by this point and couldn't breath properly from the excessive hot smoke, but that didn't matter one bit now. With narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth, he was too furious to give a shit about any of that now. What the hell was that bastard doing? Killing the prince, sure, he had no problem with that. But why set the whole city on fire? _I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!_

"Fine!" the woman finally decided. "We thank you for everything, but if you want to die, that's your choice!"

"Take care of yourselves!" He and ran back inside.

* * *

"DON'T KILL ME! I'M THE PRINCE, YOU CAN'T KILL ME!"

Hiroki scoffed softly under his breath as he looked down at the fat lard shivering on the floor. The front of Louis XXI's trouser was damped- a complete loss of bladder control- and pee only ran further down his pants as time passed on. A truly, truly pathetic sight.

It wouldn't be long before another squad of reinforcement come after him, and surely Camry-san was having trouble fighting all the ordeals that awaited him and his dames outside, not to mention that it would be a pain to just run now and try heading for the ship. Was Kidd-sama done with Rosier? He wished that he knew. But one thing for sure- getting off of this island wasn't going to be easy with the amount of trouble they caused now.

"Get up," he ordered Louis, giving a small kick at the numerous fat rolls before realizing that one of the ankles was bent the wrong angle, broken and bleeding.

_He must have really angered Camry-san,_ Hiroki mused, seeing this.

"If you can't walk, crawl," he said coldly to the prince, who trembled under his gaze with tear and snot running down his face.

"D- Don't kill me!" came the repeating words in a whimper. "I'm the prince! You know what will happen if you kill me!"

"That is up for me to decide," the pirate shipwright answered, looking at him in the eyes, determined to make his next statement clear. "You are to take me to the garden. Now. Crawl to it if you need to, I'm not carrying you."

"Th- The garden?" Louis squeaked. "Wh- What are you pl- NO!" He wailed as a foot pressed down on his person. "AAAAH! I'LL TAKE YOU! DON'T KILL ME!"

Hiroki released his stand. "Hurry up, I've wasted enough time here."

"All- All right..."

He watched with bored eyes as Louis crawled for the wide open door, and pondered to himself would rolling the man make the process all faster, but then decided "no", as it would just make finding the garden a whole a lot longer. He followed the prince out.

Instantly guns loaded and pointed at his direction the first step he'd planted in the hallway, and he found himself standing in the dead middle of a semi-circle of rifle-holders.

"Try shooting, and you'll hit your prince," he told them loud and clear, seeing strains growing on their face as Louis' tears of joy turned to tears of fear.

"Don't shoot, you idiots! Don't shoot!" he shrieked at them.

"May I speak to the commander?" Hiroki asked, eying every single man standing, each tensing and leaning back when his eyes set on them. Finally, a differently uniformed older man separated himself from his fellow soldiers, and glared at the pirate.

"I am Captain Lippmann of unit twenty-four!" he introduced himself. "Division Eight of His Royal Majesty's military!" Then in less formal and civil terms, "Identify yourself and hand over His Highness, you criminal, or we'll kill you!"

"Please to meet you," said criminal answered. "My name is Shinoda Hiroki. And..." There was a pause. "I'm a pirate."

"A- A pirate?" Lippmann echoed, then narrowed his eyes. "What's a pirate doing in the royal palace? What are your demands?"

Ignoring the questions, he smiled at the enraged guard captain instead. "I have no obligation to tell you. What a pirate does will be a pirate's business. Though, how about you accompany me to a trip to the lovely royal garden? I am anxious to see it again, and quite frankly, I will be in need of your assistance." He stomped on the prince's broken ankle, making him scream out in pain once again much to the royal soldiers' edginess. "Isn't that right, Louis-san?"

"Li- Listen to him!"

"How dare you treat a member of the royal family like this and makes such outrageous demands, you sea scum!" Lippmann snarled.

"I SAID LISTEN TO HIM! THAT IS AN ORDER FROM YOUR PRINCE!" Louis screamed. "HE'LL KILL ME! IF HE KILLS ME, I'LL MAKE SURE THAT MY FATHER SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH, YA HEAR?"

_How illogical,_ Hiroki thought dryly as the infantry captain drew back.

"Ab- Absolutely, Your Highness," he replied, pulling back his gun as his men did the same.

The shipwright looked down at Louis once more, who was squirming on the floor. "The garden," he reminded him with a kick. "You're still crawling." And to a red-faced Lippmann. "Shall we?"

* * *

It was an appalling day for the servants of the castle.

The news about an intruder traveled from ear to ear like wind, and a tense atmosphere of nervousness and uncertainty seemed to dominate the halls and corridors as they saw their friends and fellow servants being carried to the northern wing for treatment on stretchers, and some dead ones covered in white sheets, being carried out of the palace. Bleu was rarely ever invaded by anything, with such powerful a military and being a loyal ally of the World Government. Political enemies were few, as the current king was a jolly man himself, despite the kind of son he had raised. Who would dare openly attack them like that?

However, nothing prepared them for the sight that was a stranger in foreign clothes walking down their halls, being guarded by an unit of soldiers with their prince crawling like a dog along side the stranger's feet. Although all guns were pointed at him, this person walked with an air fitting of a lord.

Their prince was crawling? Brooms stopped, heads turned.

"Tell them to stop staring!" Louis barked from the floor, causing Lippmann to jump.

"Y- Yes, my Prince," the commander answered, a bead of sweat dripping down from his forehead as he quickly glanced at the stone-faced pirate, then at the gaping servants. "Get back to work!"

"We're quite the parade, aren't we, Lippmann-san?" Hiroki commented as the servants forced their attentions elsewhere, determined not to look.

"You shut it, sea scum!" Lippmann snarled.

"Hmph," was all he got back for the insulting order. Hiroki kicked Louis again, causing the crawling prince to leap a good foot into the air with fright. Some soldiers bit back snorts and chuckles. "Crawl faster."

Lippmann looked as if he was about to protest, but quickly stopped himself.

The walk was dead silent the rest of the way.

To his left walked five, to his right walked four, seven of them plus the commander backed him, two in front of him. Beside him crawled the prince. He quickly took note of all this as they descended down stairs and turned a corner. Within minutes, the royal garden was in sight, a visage of glowing, beautiful blue.

"Inside."

"We are not permitted inside," Lippmann replied. "_You_ are not permitted inside!"

There was a daunting silence as Hiroki shifted from one foot to another.

"Let him inside, let him in!" shrieked Louis from the ground after some times.

"But-"

"Is that so?" He strolled towards the heavily locked door of the gigantic greenhouse.

"...What are you doing?" the royal commander barked, lifting his rifle, before noticing that the pirate was no longer by the prince's side. "Your Highness, please take shelter!" he shouted, readying his gun as the rest of his men followed his suite. A smirk formed on his face. "You didn't notice that you singled yourself out in the open did you, sea scum? Prepare to die!"

The black-haired man arrived by the side of the glass and glanced back. "Your former king has exquisite taste," he praised.

_BAM! CLANK!_

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"HE BROKE THE GLASS!"

"Should we shoot him?"

"Shoot him!" Louis shouted.

"NO!" Lippmann screamed frantically. "DON'T SHOOT-" _Bam, bam, bam!_

The soldier who fired withdrew his gun, blinking at the spot where Hiroki was supposed to be with confusion. "Where did he go?"

"YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT! HOW-" He never got to finish as something struck the side of his neck, rendering him dead. The subordinate that he was screaming at quickly followed. The rest of them cried out in terror as the pirate appeared in the middle of them.

Within the same seconds, the heat from the bullets ignited a single spark inside the garden.

And a fire instantly surged up, swallowing everything in its way, breaking through the greenhouse...

"RUN!"

At that, every single soldier dropped their guns and scurried away for their lives as fast as they could, not even taking into account of their struggling prince, who tried clutching on to the edge of the men's pants, hurling death threats left and right, and finally begging someone to just save him.

No one did.

The fire shot across the ceiling, clinging onto wood.

_It should be outside of the castle now,_ Hiroki predicted as he moved forward a step. _And I should be getting out of here as well-_

"WAIT! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING? I AM THE PRINCE! IF YOU LET ME DIE, MY FATHER WILL KILL YOU!"

He stopped, and looked down. "If you die, then that's your problem. Please let go of me."

Louis gagged and coughed as smoke clogged his breathing air. "You useless scum of a Blue..." he hissed. "How dare you disobey my order!"

_Wham!_

A wail much resembling a dying rodent filled the air as Louis landed right in the middle of a pit of flame. The obese man jumped up, and dropped back onto the floor, crying as his clothes caught on fire as well.

"I don't like you," Hiroki answered. "That's all the reason I need."

He went right back walking.

_On the other hand, I hope that Camry-san has gotten out by now. It'll be hard to explain to the rest of the crew if I go back and he isn't there._

Wood and stone pieces fell around him, ashes danced in the air.

_Now... How do _I _get out of here?_

"HIROKI, YOU BASTARD!"

_WHOOSH!_

_Hm? _He looked up.

_BAM!_

The ground beside the shipwright split apart as the boomerang collided with it, barely giving him any time to dodge.

"Camry-san?" Hiroki asked with a small frown, softly landing elsewhere. "What do you think you're doing? Did I not tell you to run?"

"Damn you!" Camry snarled, yanking his weapon out of the ground and began spinning it rapidly over his head. "What the hell were _you_ doing? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF JUST WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE?" "What are you-" "GO DIE!"

_WHOOSH! _

_Shit!_

He dodged again, and avoided the boomerang once more on its way back. "...Are you talking about the fire?"

"Why do you sound so puzzled, asshole?" the cook continued to snarl. "I can't believe that I thought good of you for even one second! Nice on the surface or not, pirates all turn out to be the same! There are people dying out there in their own home and you sound like you don't give a fuck! _You _started this fire, DIDN'T YOU?"

_I see what this is about. I should've expected this,_ Hiroki thought grimly, looking straight into his crew mate's angry face. _But at a time like this too? Damn it..._ "Perhaps, we should take it outside-"

"NO!" Camry declared angrily. "I will kill you right here! I will make you pay for what you've done!"

A quirk of an eyebrow. _He's stubborn._

_I guess I have no choice,_ he decided as he jumped away from another attack, barely brushing against fire, and landed behind Camry, who spun around and threw another swing. _This fire is getting really bad. If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be burned to death._

_And if you're only trying to stop me..._

"_Point Eighty-Seven."_

* * *

He couldn't move.

Camry had lurched forward, intended to retrieve his returning boomerang, but as unexpectedly stopped short in mid-movement. _That fucking bastard!_

He couldn't _move!_

Hiroki's arm reached up, and snatched the coming boomerang out of the air. "There," he said calmly. "Now we can talk."

"Talk?" Camry spat, baring his teeth, blood boiling. "You want to _talk?_ What the hell can you say to justify what you did? And all you can say is you want to _talk!_"

"We need a distraction," came the simple answer.

Veins tightened and popped on his forehead and neck as he, with all his efforts, glared straight ahead at the mild man, who looked back with a stoic face. "YOU STARTED A FIRE SO WE CAN HAVE A DISTRACTION?"

All he got out of that face was a little frown. "How naïve."

_...What did he just call me?_

But as a foot struck his wounded stomach, he could only scream in agony. His muscles ached painfully, shivering under the stiffness that Hiroki's attack had put him under. In such pain, he didn't even notice another gentle tap releasing him from the bind until he found himself collapsing on the ground. His hands flew to the bleeding opening, and blood spewed out of his mouth.

"Damn you..." He looked up into the annoyed face of the shipwright.

Said shipwright the decided to make the matter all worse by picking him up and threw him over his shoulder, causing blood to spill even more. "Obviously, so you'll be too weak to attack me," he explained in response to some yet asked question, picking up the twin boomerangs from their places on the ground. "We'll talk about this, but getting out of this castle is more important. Please don't die on me during the way."

* * *

It was a strange sight to behold. With someone like Hiroki dressed in such traditional fashion walking composedly in a raging fire, carrying a man larger than he was, on any normal day would've caught the attention of quite a few people. But for now, it was a strange sight to behold with no one to behold it. Indeed, the distraction was working better than he had expected. No one spared a glance towards them.

Over his shoulder, Camry glanced out the corner of his eyes at the shipwright, trying to see any change in expression when they had stepped out of the palace and into the streets. The stoic face remained as it were, infuriating him more and more.

"You do realize that this isn't the first time that this city has been caught on fire?" Hiroki asked before he could express his anger, starting down a road. "This isn't something they can't handle."

"And that makes everything better how?" he barked.

"It doesn't," the other man replied. "But it's also not something to become upset over, especially for pirates like us, Camry-san."

He never wished to kill someone more. "Don't put me in the same category of people as someone like you, you heartless bastard!" he shouted. "If you have any shred of humane in you, you'll know that you don't people's lives in danger just because you need a distraction!"

There was nothing but silence after.

It should've given him a sense of victory, but it didn't. What had he expected from this person anyway? Camry pondered furiously, looking upwards into the unchanging face. He knew that none of the first three crew members had much of a great history, he knew that with pirates, he should expect blood. But even so, he had held a higher expectation for this crew- the sole reason why he even agreed to his brothers' plead in the first place; because he had expected better of them!

Hiroki wasn't denying a single accusation, but he was hardly justifying them either.

He didn't know how it was when they reached a more rocky beach some distance away from the city's harbor. By then, he was beyond lightheadedness, the pain was dull but throbbing still, and there wasn't an ounce of energy left in him to even walk. Coming to a stop, he was set down on the ground.

"Pirates." The word, spoke so out of the blue, startled him. "You don't like pirates, yet you became one anyway, even though it was only fulfill your father's wish.

"Whether I am heartless or not, you need to understand something, Camry-san; not everyone is like you. There are people in this world who kill for pleasure, there are people who torture others for the benefit of themselves, and there are people in the world who is willing to set a city on fire just to provide a distraction. And none of those people let it get to them.

"If you plan on staying in a pirate crew, please brace yourself. Although I'm sure that neither I, Killer-san nor Sencho kill because we take pleasure in doing so, I'm also sure that all of us won't find it impossible to take an innocent life if it's imperative. It's survival of the fittest on a sea like this. Kill or be killed. You will eventually have to do the same."

"I won't!" he breathed out.

"Then your ignorance knows no limit," Hiroki snapped.

His fist clenched by his sides.

"Just because you're a pirate who kills doesn't necessary mean that you stop being a human. Balance your morals and sins however you want to, but don't expect anyone else to feel the same way. That's all I have to say."

_He has a point there. _

"I don't like it any better," Camry muttered darkly.

"That's good. If you do, I would find it strange."

_Tch_. "You're fucked up," he said. "How can you kill innocent people and live with yourself?"

There was an uncomfortable air. "I learned to."

He learned to. From what Camry knew, Hiroki was a criminal the moment he was born to a yakuza family, so he learned to. To someone else, that might seemed understandable, but to him, he couldn't wrap his mind around it. A feeling of dread sank within him. If this man learned to, would he as well? If so, if he started killing... He shivered at the thought, and pushed it away.

Drowsiness quickly overtook him by this point. His eyelids found themselves growing heavier and heavier. His body relaxed, letting go of all pain and will as sleep slowly replaced-

"By the way," Hiroki interrupted the process some times later. "I'm pretty sure that the prince died. Thought you should know."

"Good," he said back, opening his eyes slightly.

The other man stared at him for a moment. "Love can do strange things to people," he finally concluded.

Camry's eyes snapped wide open, and he frowned. "Love?" he echoed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I just find it ironic of how you so harshly criticize for my doing, but so gladly accepted that prince's death," Hiroki explained. "Then again, I don't know what he was doing to that Lolita-girl. You must have been quite ticked to break his ankle like that. You can hardly be blamed. She's quite beautiful..."

"Oi! What kind of a man do you take me for?" he shouted, fighting the sleep, trying to get his argument across. "First of all, don't call her such a degrading nickname! Her real name is Dolores! Secondly, That bastard deserves to die; he was planning to burn them-" "Them?" "-to death! Third of all, why the hell would you assume that I did it for love? She was being abused like an animal, what other reasons do I need? Besides, falling in love with someone just because they're beautiful is _shallow_! Don't judge me like that!"

More staring.

His teeth clenched together stubbornly under the unnerving gaze.

"You're indeed a hopeless romantic."

"NOW YOU'RE JUST MAKING FUN OF ME!"

* * *

"Where the hell could they be...?"

"You don't think... that maybe they..."

"Stop you pansy whining, shrimp!"

"Found them!" Mustang declared, putting down his binocular. "They're over there!" He pointed to a jagged rock on the beach. "They look alive too, that's great!"

Back on the beach, Camry's ears twitched as familiar voices rang in the distance. He was slowly gaining conscious until one of the voice saw it fit to blast with great volume against his unprepared eardrums.

"HIROKI, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! WHY THE HELL DID YOU SET THE DAMN CITY ON FIRE!"

"For the last time, Kidd," Killer ordered. "Get back to bed!"

_Boss...?_

"They're here, Camry-san," the shipwright informed standing up.

"I know," he grunted back.

"You need help?"

"No," he answered, pushing himself up, biting down a wince. "I'll be fine."

"YOU BETTER HAVE AN EXPLANATION READY!" Kidd continued. "BECAUSE I WILL-"

_Bam!_ The kick sent him flying and smacking right into a wall. "Get back to bed, _now_!" the masked man ordered a second time.

"Nii-san!" Chuckie cried as Camry pulled himself up into the deck. "You got stabbed! Oi, Killer-san, he got stabbed-"

"I heard you the first time." Killer sighed as he picked a quivering redheaded captain from the ground, whose wounds had just reopened, before taking a look at their sorry-looking cook. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath, realizing something. "We really need a doctor."

* * *

Misery settled in the streets of Bleu the very next day as the now-homeless lined up in soup kitchens, men carrying children, followed by their wives, argued with the guards, and water being carried by missionary workers and civilians to quench the morning thirst. The fire was resolved. Although unexpected, being a fire in autumn and possibly one of the worst fires in their history, the water system had helped.

The castle was completed eaten by the monster flame, the beautiful garden gone. It was by then, abandoned, the entire royal family evacuated with their servants and slaves. Last night, they found Prince Louis' body nearly burn to the point of nonrecognition in the back of the castle.

Inside one empty brick house, away from the scurrying people outside, a woman with red hair and red eyes looked coldly at the blackened structure in the distance from the window.

"We're free," a soft voice muttered beside her, and it chuckled.

She turned around and looked at the scene within the single room.

Three of them were sleeping soundlessly on some mat they'd found. The muted blue-haired girl met her eyes for a single moment before looking away, while bandaging the younger Indigo-haired girl's burned feet.

Violet, the woman with the purple hair, stared up at her. "Now what?"

"I've had enough."

Only when she started trembling did she notice that her eyes were blurred with tears.

"I'm sick of the outside world," she whispered in a harsh voice. "I originally thought that... We were so confined and I thought maybe if I just see the outside world once..." She couldn't say anymore as the angry tears rolled. "This sucks! Now I know why our ancestors secluded us from them! They're monsters! My daughter, my little baby..." She sank low on the ground, shaking as her friend wrapped her in an embrace.

"It's been two years already, Xena. Our daughters are our most precious treasures, but perhaps it's time that you leave your child behind-"

"Shut up!" The arms released her as she turned around and glared at Violet. "How can you say that? To us Kuja women, they're our gifts! And I lost her to those savages called men!" She sobbed, her shoulders shaking nonstop as her red eyes stared ahead, wide with pain and remorse. "I shouldn't have sneaked her onto the ship with me that day!"

"You shouldn't have!" the other woman snapped before facing away. "Now stop crying!"

"Are we going to your home land then, Violet?" the little Indigo-head spoke up, eyes shining with a slight hope.

"I don't know," the oldest answered. "Amazon Lily's so far away...It might take us years... We might never get back, even."

Solemn silence fell in the room.

"But-"

"It's impossible."

"Xena, stop your-"

"I'm telling the truth! There is no way the tribe will accept us back! We've been separated for too damn long!" "We're a family-" "Don't give me any of that, Violet. And what's more, even if the two of us do get welcomed back, what about them? These girls are practically useless- weak, only able to perform the simplest of chores. Hebihime-sama-"

"STOP IT!"

"...You," the girl whispered. "But you won't leave us here…. Right?"

"Of course not," Violet reassured.

"I..." she continued. "We can learn, even if we will only be able to do worthless things. And my feet will heal soon so I can walk- ...Dora?" Her attention averted as the Blue-haired girl stood up.

"Where are _you_ going?" Xena demanded darkly. "If you get caught outside, we're not rescuing you."

Dora stopped by the door, almost afraid to go on at her tone of voice.

"The marines spot their ship this morning, so the pirates should still be within sight, if my guess is correct," Violet said, knowing what she wanted. "If you want to say goodbye, be careful."

She nodded back and went out.

* * *

There was a crowd gathered at the harbor.

"Damn it! The marines keep missing! They're nearly out of sight! If we have to chase them any further, the ships will be pulled into unstable Grand Line ocean!" someone shouted in Dora's ear as she ducked between people and emerged out front, keeping a sharp eye on anyone who would happened to recognize her as one of the 'prostitute girls'. Thankfully, no one took notice of her.

"Didn't you hear?" someone else said. "I heard that that crew is insane! Their captain killed that Rosier-bastard, one of them massacred a whole load of men, and a third one broke into the castle and ended up setting the royal garden on fire! Damn pirates! How were they able to survive here unnoticed for a full week? The marines usually take care of them!"

"Look! Look! It's gonna hit- DAMN IT! THEY MISSED AGAIN!"

"Don't worry. These rookies will get it coming sooner or later! Most likely, they're one of those bunch who are heading for the New World! Bwahaha! I heard tales of _that_ sea! It's ain't pretty."

The ship of the Kidd Pirates rocked on water, paddles rolling at an abnormally in sync and fast pace, leaving the marines ships further and further behind them.

"OI! MARINES! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"

And, indeed, they were.

Dora felt the corners of her lips twitching upwards for the first time in years as she watched the ship getting further and further away from the island.

On the ship, Kidd stood on top of the figurehead, seemingly bored as he repelled one cannonball after another.

Inside the room behind the figurehead, Mustang worked the controls, playing with the speed of Auto-Paddling.

Outside, two brothers fought and shouted at each other vigorously as Chevy tried to get Chuckie untangled from a trap that the younger had walked into.

Below the deck, the shipwright hammered away at some new projects as he pondered what to do with the scraps of iron- which were deadweights and practically useless now that _Maria_ was more or less completed.

Killer sat calmly on the rail, reading as water splashed around him, keeping an eye out for Kidd.

In the kitchen, Camry had begun breakfast for his crew, still thinking over what had happened the day before.

He did not hear the small voice miles away whispering, "_Thank you._"

* * *

Days passed.

The fire still hadn't left anyone's lips as of yet. Victims in camps still lined the countrysides, waiting for the reconstruction of their homes to be completed. The overpopulating of those areas led to a rise of business in local bars, to with the bartenders and tavern owners joyfully accepted, seeing the new coming businesses as a gift from heaven. Homeless men littered and hung around these bars, discussing how life was going to be after this mess.

They never had such big of a fire before. Yes, being a summer island, and the nature of the native plants here being so inflammable, city fires weren't uncommon, especially during the summer times where excessive growth of blue weeds and the hot sun nearly baked the island with occasional but controllable fire breakouts.

But did you hear? It wasn't because of that this time. It was pirates! Pirates set the royal garden on fire! King Louis XIX's proudest work! They must be insane! I heard that Rosier was killed by them too. And the fire took down a whole squad of the royal army alone, and burned the prince to death! The king is in a frantic now; a pirate crew directly attacking a royalty's castle like this. Their captain's a new rookie... Eustass "Captain" Kidd...

This sort of conversation popped up everywhere; it was nothing new to her ears as she sat down by the bar beside the two men.

"One," she whispered in a voice not her own as she eavesdropped. Coming in, people had given her strange stares, but those soon dissipated as they saw the cloaked woman doing nothing of interest.

Maybe it was Rozara's mistake to not leave this island as fast as she could have.

The old bartender set her order in front of her.

And she had the last drink of her life.

_BAM!_

Her arm suddenly swung, the glass in her hand hitting one of the men at the back of the head, making him drop dead on the ground, shocking the rest of the bar into silence. Shocking, her too, into silence.

Her eyes widened at what she had done, but she didn't get the chance to think it over either.

"Oi! What the fuck are you do-" A kick from her killed the second man as her foot snapped his neck. From then on, the rest of the bar descended into chaos.

_What am I doing?_

"There's a mad woman here! She's murdering everyone! Aaaah-!"

Kick. Punch. Pick up a chair. Swing. _BAM!_

There was a knife on the ground. She snatched it up and stabbed the nearest person without warning to the victim or herself. Her body was on a rage all by itself. Blood clouded her vision, dying cries filled her ears. These movements... Theses movements weren't hers! She had never intended to kill anyone! What was she doing this for?

"STOP! STOP IT!" Rozara screamed as she leaped and finalized the last life in the bar, the knife slashing madly at the man's chest- through the heart, the lungs opened, impaling the stomach again and again. "NO! STOP IT!"

And for some seconds, she had control again. It took two swings for her to realize that she could move by her will once more. Two steps back for the dead body to realize how hard she was trembling. Three droplets of blood dripping from her soaked hands to realize that she wasn't breath properly.

Then just like that, she couldn't move again.

_No..._a little voice whispered in the back of her head. All colors drained from her face. She didn't need to turn around to see who it was.

"Fufufufuffu..."

"Doflamingo..."

The smile stretched back into an eerie grin. "So you do remember my name, Rozara."

_Remember? How can I not?_ "What do want?" she finally asked.

"Now! Don't be such a cold bitch towards your master!" the Shichibukai scolded, parading around the room. "Fufuffu, you seems to have forgotten just who picked you up off the streets and gave you a place twenty years ago, little girl. You've grown wild outside of my guidance, I see..."

"Shut up! You're not my master! Let me go!" she snarled in a shaken voice. "I'm no use to you now! The House has already fallen, and Rosier is dead! There's no need for anymore slave imports! We're done for; mind your other businesses, Doflamingo!"

"Oh?" he stopped and turned to her. "Rosier's dead? By whom?"

Rozara bit down her tongue.

"Won't talk, will we?" The grin never left as he lifted up a hand. "Well then..." A finger twitched.

A scream erupted from her throat as bones in her arms twisted and broke, crunching sounds follows as her elbow was bent at an abnormal angle. She fell on her knee, breathing heavily as sweat broke out everywhere, only to scream again as he instrumented her spine into two.

Something fell out of her pocket.

"Hm? What do we have here?" the man laughed as he picked up the rustling papers, and opened the folds. "A bounty poster?" Doflamingo settled himself rather laying back on a chair, voice growing with interests as he spoke to the quivering woman on the ground. "Now what is this, Rozara? 'Eustass "Captain" Kidd'... Fufufufuffu... I've never heard of this rookie before.

"Did he kill Rosier?"

She still didn't answer.

"Fufuffu... I'll take that as a yes." And with that, he put the poster aside.

The woman closed her eyes and gulped back the blood, unable to relax at her current condition

"Talk to me, won't you, little doll?" Doflamingo mused as he grabbed a bottle of rum off a nearby shelf and took a generous gulp. "Come on, let's make our last meeting fun! Smile, Rozara, Smile! It is the Age of Smile!"

"I don't have anything to say to you," she replied. "If this is our last meeting, then just let me go!"

"I don't think you understand me, slave," he said as his hand raised again, peering sinisterly as her from behind his sunglasses. "'Last meeting' doesn't necessarily mean 'I'll let you live'..." A chuckle. "Since this _is_ the last time that you'll be seeing me, Let's make this FUN!"

Her bones cracked apart and muscles and tissues twisted as she was roughly yanked up by an invisible force. Her legs wouldn't move.

Someone whimpered from behind the counter as another twitch of fingers. Rozara averted her pupils.

The old bartender. He was walking towards her, looking terrified beyond his worst nightmare as he picked up the knife that she'd dropped earlier.

"Doflamingo!" she cried to the laughing Shichibukai. "No! Stop it!"

"Stop it?" he echoed. "Why should I? Not only did you fail me, but you got beaten by such a rookie! I'm disappointed! Fufufufuffu!

"Glad that you haven't forgotten me after all these years! I would've been greatly insulted if you had! After all... Aren't I the man who made you fear dominance? Aren't I the reason why you rejoice in others' pain? Rosier has treated you well, hasn't he? That fool, letting you on like this unrestrained! But not me! How can I let you go without letting you feel it one last time? The feeling of absolute helplessness!

He ignored her screams. "I am your Devil, and your luck has just ran out!" A finger moved. "Say hello to Rosier for me.

"Smile, Rozara."

_Strike!_

Red blinded her as the old man pierced the knife into her chest.

Her heartbeat stopped, and down she collapsed.

Some sickening crunches later, the old bartender fell too.

"Fufufuffuu, not bad at all," Doflamingo complimented, watching the blood pooling on the floor from her wound. "What a beautiful shade of red. I heard that crimson burns the fiercest, wonder if that's true..."

He got a glass from behind the counter and poured the remainder of the bottle in before picking up the discarded poster of Kidd. "Rookie... So many troublesome rookies plaguing the Grand Line these days. And one here completely ruined one of my bigger enterprises.

"Say, speaking of rookies, isn't Bellamy just a few islands over?

"Now there's someone who won't disappoint. Fufufufuffu..."


	39. Inter Arc: Of Skills and Qualifications

**Author's Note:** Thanks goes to _Dogychou, Dfletcherboyy, doriansburial, Finalangel509, bakura from school, quiveringflame, RedValentino, ChibiFluff_ and _anonymous_ for your wonderful reviews! You have no idea how big of an asshole I feel like for updating so slow. T_T

Inter Arc time!

There are going to be two following the previous arc, not because either of them are too long or anything- although chapter length is getting to be a legit reason *Death glares this chapter*- but simply because of topic issues and difference in roles in the plot. This one really doesn't contain the humor that I hoped it to have, and neither does the next one; this fic is going through a semi-dark period until the arc after the next (as well as a semi slow-update period, I guess). It's also probably the hardest Inter Arc to write, and most of you will probably see why by the end, and exactly what part made it so.

Though, I've been looking forward to writing these two babies for a very long time now, so enjoy!

* * *

The scene of that following afternoon began with the shut of a leather-bound book as the reader stopped on the one thousandth and thirty-fourth page. Killer's heels gently tapped the wooden floorboard of the deck as he pushed himself off the rail. Beneath his mask, his eyelids weighted down like rocks as they threatened to close over his eyes.

"I'm going to take a nap," he announced. "I haven't gotten any sleep since the night before yesterday. Keep the ship in pace, Hiroki, and you two-" He nodded at Kidd and Camry; one of them cracking open bags, chests and boxes of bought goods on the deck, the other fishing. "-Take it easy. I'm in no mood to re-bandage you again. Got it?"

Kidd grunted and looked away.

Camry nodded from his spot.

"Of course," the shipwright answered.

Moments later, the door to the masked man's bedroom opened, and closed, locked.

_Killer..._ Kidd's mood darkened as he watched the back of his first mate disappear, his eyes lingering at the door even after seconds of its closing.

Killer had been awfully strange last night while treating him. It was nothing like he'd expected of the masked man's reaction. Yes, the air was cold then, but it wasn't a raging, furious cold like usual- to some extent, it was almost calm, yet the calmness of it all just made everything more unnerving. He couldn't describe it. But not only that, the usual lectures he'd expected weren't there at all. In fact, not a single word was spoken. He'd sat there for nearly two hours straight with Killer cleaning his wounds up and bandaging him, only to receive a quiet "Done" once finished.

Kidd was very close to voicing protests, but stopped just in time.

_Is it because of... of_ that_? He-_

"What is this?"

He snapped back to reality, and looked towards the source of the voice. "Give it back to me!" he said, snatching out the leopard-patterned satin cargo pants out from Chuckie's hands. "That's mine!"

"Well, you have horrible tastes," the boy criticized, sticking out his tongue. "Those pants sucks!" _Bam!_ "HEY!"

"Shut up, you little pipsqueak!" the captain shouted. "You're the one with no taste! And hands off that belt! That's mine too!"

"No fair!"

"MINE!" Kidd emphasized.

"But I want one!" Chuckie screamed, stomping his foot with all the manner of a spoiled brat.

"TOO BAD! SUCKS FOR YOU!"

The rest of their crewmates on the deck watched as the argument went back and forth between the two, and sighed, sweat-dropping. All looked at each other, waiting for someone to break the pointless fight apart, but nobody moved as Kidd and Chuckie began bickering over a set of twin pure gold bracelets; Kidd wanted both, each for one wrist, while the boy was trying- and not exactly succeeding- to swindle at least one out of him.

_Leave it to Killer-san_, they all thought after a moment. _It's not worth the headache._

"Oi, oi... How much did all of that cost?" Mustang commented, looking at the numerous bags here and there, all full of some form of accessories or clothes- _Kidd's_ accessories and clothes, to be specific. It seemed like his captain had went on a shopping spree, and bought just about everything with a price tag of over a hundred thousand beri. The gunner eyed the jewelries spilling on the floor with worries. "...He didn't spent it all, did he?"

"Let me see..." their shipwright trailed off, humming softly under his breath, recalling totals from the many receipts. "Five million beri... One hundred thousand... Five million and one hundred thousand... and eight million... seven million... Hm, he spent around thirty-five million, if I calculated the numbers correctly."

There was a crash as Mustang fell onto the ground. Chevy choke on his spit. Chuckie's eyes popped out at the hoop earrings he held in his hand, only to have it taken from him seconds later by Kidd.

Camry looked back at the black-haired man with widen eyes, his fishing pole nearly falling out of his hands. "Thirty... _Thirty-five_ million?" he gaped with disbelief.

Hiroki nodded. "Yes. Is that a problem?"

"'Is that a problem?'" Mustang wheezed, gasping. "HOW IS THAT NOT A PROBLEM?"

There was a frown. "I don't see the problem," Hiroki honestly confessed.

"How is anyone capable of spending thirty-five million in a single week!" Chuckie shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his captain, who glared at him and landed another punch on his head.

"Don't point at me, midget!"

"I still don't see the problem. It's only thirty-five million."

Mustang sat up, staring at Hiroki as if he wasn't human. "Don't you understand? That was a complete waste of thirty-five million beri!-" "A waste?" Hiroki cut in, the frown never leaving his face. "Money don't just grow on trees, you know! It'd probably take me a lifetime to make that amount of money and he just blew it off on...TRINKETS!"

_Wham!_ "YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, PEDO?" Kidd barked, sending him flying ten feet in the air.

"How is it a waste though?" the shipwright continued to ponder as the man fell smack in the middle of the deck. "Thirty-five million beri is but a petty sum."

Camry ground his jaws with determination, setting his fishing pole aside, and was fully prepared to launch into a speech when the redhead gathered up the remains of his newly acquired items and interrupted him.

"What do you guys expect from someone like him?" he snorted, motioning to his still-puzzled shipwright. "We're talking about a guy who probably get one hundred million beri gift certificates and then some for his birthday alone! Of course, he could careless about thirty-five million beri!"

That didn't make the Mohawk man feel any better.

"...How did you know that I got an one hundred million beri gift certificate for my last birthday?" Hiroki questioned.

"I WAS RIGHT?" Kidd barked at him, then rethought the situation they had just went through, and the whole reason how they even got into the whole thing. "Wait a minute..." he said, narrowing his eyes. "...If you got all that money, then why the hell didn't you bring any with you?"

"Oh, good point," the man answered, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I wasn't really thinking of money then; I always assume that I would have plenty at hand that it became a habit." He closed his eyes. "I will correct that in the future... And as for that certificate card, I think I lost it about nine months ago on a trip somewhere- it fell into the ocean and couldn't be retrieved. I wasn't able to spend a beri. Quite disappointing..."

The captain's eyes quirked. "SO IT _IS_ YOUR FAULT THEN?" he barked.

"I am not to be blamed."

"YOU ARE _TOO_ TO BE BLAMED- Hm?"

A strong wind suddenly blew against the sails, rocking the ship with high tides. Kidd gathered his belongings close to him, thanking that his goggles were holding back his troublesome hair, and waited for it to be over.

"Hey, what's-"

"Oi!"

"...!"

"Oh, I forgot..."

_What is it now?_

He looked back just in time to see cards- Aces, Ones, Twos, Jacks, and so forth- falling out from Hiroki's sleeves as a result of the rather convenient wind.

Cards, falling out from a sleeve...

It took milliseconds to click.

"...YOU WERE CHEATING ALL WEEK?" they screamed at the shipwright, who sighed and picked up a card.

"How can you do such a thing!" Camry demanded, outraged. "Cheating? Cheating!" he repeated, as if just saying so once wouldn't satisfy. "You're a bastard, a true bastard!"

"Why have I not kill you yet!" That would be Kidd.

"You suck!" Chuckie joined in with a puerile expression of utter betrayal. "And here I thought that you're a _skilled_ player! Jerk!"

"Now, now," the accused cut in, beginning to find all the negativity a little irritating by this point. "I'd like to correct a couple of things here. First, there is absolutely no way that I not lost even once during the week if I didn't pull a stunt or two. Secondly, we needed the money. Thirdly, I _am_ a skilled player." He directed this at a furious-looking nine-year old, who squat down on the deck with arms crossed, waiting for an explanation. "There are three vital elements when it comes to being a gambler; knowledge, luck and skill. Knowledge of how to play the game, the luck of getting good hands in the game, and skill- the ability to cheat without getting caught.

"And I am _very_ skilled."

"YOU DESERVE TO DIE!" screamed Kidd and Camry simultaneously.

* * *

Chevy was a great listener, and had always been a secluded and quiet person no matter in what situation- unless said situation called for him to act out, which was rarely. Therefore, such listening skills also made him a great observer and decision maker, and he knew exactly when to and when to not butt into trouble on purpose.

Like now.

He cringed and shuffled away from the five, wishing that he was Ren, who was taking a nap up in the crow's nest undisturbed by this whole ordeal.

"LET US AT HIM, MUSTANG!" Camry cried viciously as the oldest brother held him back.

Chuckie had his arms tightly around one of Kidd's legs, shouting something along the lines of "Killer-san will be mad if you kill the shipwright, Boss!" as he was slowly being dragged across the deck.

_Should I get Killer-san...?_ he thought wearily as Hiroki stared at the enraged duo for three more seconds before calmly turned his back to them in a carefree manner, purposely agitating them more.

Then Chevy needed to wonder no longer.

_Bam! BOOM!_

The coldness emitting from the masked man spoke of his presence amongst them even before Chevy noticed the slamming of the open door of his bedroom. Then the sound of the rail breaking apart brought his attention back- just in time to see his older brother and his captain flying off the ship in the ocean.

"Camry!"

"Nii-san!"

"BOSS!"

"Woof?" Ren, awaken from her sleep, peered over.

Chevy jumped and froze up as he felt Killer's eyes on him. "Get them- and get that idiot captain first before he dies!"

"Ye- Yes sir!" he squeaked.

* * *

If Killer could, he would rub his temple to ease his nerves, but that was a subconscious habit that he'd long grew out of. Taking one look at the scattered cards on the floor, at all of Kidd's purchases and the stands of each of the crew mate, he'd immediately gotten a picture of what had happened, and shot the shipwright a look.

"Don't provoke them," he growled.

Hiroki shrugged and looked back. "I apologize," he answered, slightly bowing his head.

Killer's eyes twitched with aggravation beneath his mask. _Don't apologize when you're not sorry!_ But he didn't add that on. Instead, he stalked over to the rail and gazed below.

Finally, a good two minutes and some seconds later, Mustang, Camry and Chevy emerged from underwater, two of them tied and pulled by ropes, and all three dragging the Hammer of the crew up onto the deck, who proceeded throwing up and coughing out the remaining of the saltwater he'd swallowed.

His first mate stood, waiting, glaring down at him. Everyone grimaced as the temperature got unbearably cold.

Kidd exploded. "DON'T DO THAT TO YOUR OWN CAPTAIN!"

_Bam!_ He rolled trice and smacked into a wall this time.

"There are reasons why I don't take an immature, imbecilic piece of shit as my captain!" Killer snapped back. "When you're loud enough to wake me, you're too loud! What the hell were you doing? " The masked man turned and glared at Camry as well. "And you; I thought that I told you two to take it easy! If your wounds reopen again, you're on your own!"

Even Camry shrank back.

"But he started it!" the redhead shouted, pointing at Hiroki who was strolling casually towards the broken rail, impassive to what was happening. In another word, he was clearly enjoying this.

_Him and Schadenfreude... _Killer sighed to himself and reverted back to the matter at hand. "Then you should know better to finish it. Go make yourself useful and scrub the damn deck if you need something to do."

Kidd snarled at him. "I'm not scrubbing the fucking deck, you can't make your own captain scrub a deck!"

"Good point," the first mate agreed dryly, pulling a mop and a bucket out of nowhere. Said captain froze and blinked at their sudden appearances- _How did he do that?_ He did not get to wonder for long before the bucket landed over his head and the wooden stick of the mob banged on it, ringing the inside. "Now scrub the deck!"

"Why am I the only who gets punished?" Kidd cried angrily, yanking the bucket off and throwing it and the mop to Chuckie, who jumped aside as they clanked on the ground beside him. "Shrimp, clean the deck!"

"What?" the boy huffed crossly, kicking them away. "No! I don't wanna!"

Thus, another fight ensued.

Killer eyed the two wearily as the shouting match went back and forth, swearing under his breath as a migraine slowly came.

"SHUT UP AND STOP IT!" he finally snarled, hurling a punch at Kidd's head and a small smack at their second youngest crew member. "Quit acting like babies! If either of you are planning to matter _anything_ on this sea, stop fighting over nonsenses and grow the fuck up, or walk the planks yourselves!"

"You can't tell the captain to walk-"

"Shut. Up."

Kidd withdrew back in cold rage, lowering his head.

Some minutes passed before Chuckie quietly left, and the rest of the crew cleared off the deck, knowing by now to leave them alone- with the exception of Ren, who had slithered down the mast, peeking at him from the side deck, a good distance away as she had been told to be. But even she was reluctant to butt in.

Killer stood, too tired and head hurting too bad to be able to decide what to do as he watched Kidd's eyes darkened. His chests tightened at the sight, and swallowing became hard, strangely.

The masked man tried shaking the tension off.

"Kidd..." he whispered, and the captain lifted his head.

His voice left him as he met that pair of eyes that seemed to be looking into his with betrayal, hurt, anger. He started back, lips pressed together. Why that look? Somehow, he got the feeling that it wasn't from the fight with their mascot either. But why that look? All the other times-

"I'm your captain," the redhead whispered back, interrupting his thought process. "What do I have to do to make you see that?"

The question unexpectedly hit him like a blow in the gut. He didn't know what to answer, stunned. _Kidd, you..._

_No._

"I mean it," the captain continued.

And Killer walked away from him.

Seeing the scene completed, Ren slithered to the back deck without notice.

* * *

Days passed, and there hadn't been one where Camry didn't question himself of what he was really doing, serving on a pirate ship.

To be more specific, he wasn't questioning himself if he should leave or not. Such choice wasn't an option. He had joined, and joined on the terms of death, as the unspoken vow of just becoming part of a crew already bound him here, and he wasn't about to break that vow, no matter how ridiculous of a reason it might sound like to anyone else.

But Hiroki was also right, and his instincts which he'd been trying to deny had also been right: this crew could go either way. They could become one of those rare crew who'd actually see people's lives as something of worth, the kind of pirates that still had human in them. The kind of pirates he'd heard about, but never actually met in real life.

Or they could become a crew of bloodthirsty bastards, like the kind that attacked his home island, only with this crew's potential power, they would be times more dangerous.

_Chop!_ Goes his knife as it decapitated the salmon.

True, Hiroki was right. Bloodshed was inevitable, killing could not be avoided. People would die, mostly marines, but regular citizens too, and sometimes their deaths would be imperative to the survival of him and his family.

His jaws clenched tight, remembering the speech during the fire.

Having nearly a week to dwell on it, he liked it not one bit more!

Right now, they were walking a thin line here, a thin, shaky line that was threatening more and more to tip them into the pool of sins and insanity for blood. But for now, they still balanced on that line.

_And we will not tip over! Not if I could help it!_

_BAM!_ The door to the kitchen flew wide open the same moment he made a second cut to the dead fish, and the cook looked up to see Chuckie standing by the doorway with their pet worm.

"Ren and I are hungry!" the boy announced.

"The cookies are on the third shelf," he answered, and they passed him, heading for said shelf.

_That's right_, Camry reminded himself. _Chuckie is here, a nine year old, mischievous and bratty, but all in essence innocent. And our captain, although he killed, still portrays the same image despite everything. Chuckie has me, Chevy and Mustang. Kidd-sama has Killer-san. Hiroki-san isn't afraid to take a life, but at the very least, he isn't insane enough to not know what he's doing and causing when he kills._

_And if their innocence can be protected..._ He looked over to the youngest brother.

"OI! THAT'S MY CAKE!" he bellowed.

The boy froze for a second, quickly chewed, swallowed, and chuckled nervously. Around his mouth was a dark brown ring. Beside him sat a plate of what used to be a triple-layered fudge cake adorned with white roses and green leaves. Now, it remained half-eaten with the chocolate frosting smearing all over the floor, the plate, and the face and shirt of his youngest brother. Ren smartly backed away from them, snatching three house-shaped cookies from her own plate with her, sensing trouble.

Camry marched right up to Chuckie and swiped the plate away, glowering down with blazing eyes. "You were suppose to share the cookies with Ren!"

"But I don't like worm food!" he protested, swiping the plate right back and taking a big chunk out of the cake before his older brother can take it away from him again.

"Woof!" Ren barked from somewhere, offended.

"They're not worm food!" Camry shouted, veins popping on his head. "They're the same peanut butter flavored, choco-chip cookies that you ate the night before except that they're in shapes of houses instead of animals! What's so inedible about that?"

"There aren't enough choco-chips in them!" the boy explained. _Snatch._

Ren took this opportunity to get more cookies before going into hiding, prepared to enjoy the show.

"THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE!" _Snatch._

"STINGY! YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO SHARE THE CAKE!" Chuckie grabbed the plate right back and took off.

"DON'T RUN AROUND MY KITCHEN!"

Outside, the others turned towards the general direction of the kitchen as shouts and clanking of pots and pans falling rang through the ship, which was soon followed by the Giant Man-Eating Worm yowling in pain, and then a loud, audible _CHOMP!_ Expectantly enough, Chuckie screamed in response.

_What are those three doing?_ Everyone else thought at the same time.

Half an hour later inside, Ren, having finally released Chuckie's behind from the wrath of her jaws, gathered up the last of her cookies and angrily slithered to the broken doorway.

"Ren, you asshole! Why did you do that for?" her master demanded, gripping the two aching, bleeding cheeks of his gluteus maximus as she strutted out of the kitchen with head held high in all her worm-liness.

"You stepped on her tail," Camry pointed out.

"Oh..."

The cook took one glance at the catastrophe and swore under his breath. All the food he had prepared now lay scattered all over the floor, knives stuck out in odd places, tables were turn, some plates were smashed and the door was broken. His precious fudge cake had gone through another degrading leveling, and became a half-eaten upside down dirt cake, to which he shot a scowl at Chuckie for making it all like this.

"Can I still eat it?"

"NO!"

"Yes I can! It's the five-minutes rule!" Chuckie said, lunging for the remainder of the cake as his brother corrected him, "It's the called 'five-_seconds_ rule_',_ and it doesn't work!"

But there was really nothing that Camry could do as the boy stuffed the rest of mush into his mouth. Deciding that arguing wasn't worth while now- and Chuckie could really stomach any dirt- he stood and began cleaning the mess. Annoying sounds of "Omonomonmonom" went on in the background for a while.

"Nii-san."

He didn't answer.

"Nii-san."

A sigh. "What is it now?" He turned to Chuckie with an irritating look on his face, but stopped short, seeing the boy's serious expression; an expression that rarely appears.

"I want to ask you about something."

"...What?"

"Have you noticed it lately?"

_Notice what? _Camry frowned. "What?" he said again.

"There's something wrong between Boss and Killer-san."

* * *

_Eight different brush strokes. Twenty different "caps". Most of the characters are written in a three-part format, a "side", a "cap" and a "body". Different arrangements, changing just one part, can change meaning the whole word. Bodies of such words usually are words themselves, though they must symbolize something simpler._

Killer tapped his quill on the desk, examining three different characters in front of him.

_A shame. If I have their pronunciation too..._

_Thud, thud, thud._

The knock on his door pulled him out of concentration, and he growled, waited.

_Thud, thud, thud_.

The masked man rose from the chair, headed for the door, and opened it. "...Who-" Something nudged his leg, making him look down. His mood darkened instantly. "What do _you_ want?"

Ren cooed up at him, panting, and barked with excessive happiness, then rubbed her head against his leg again-

_Wham!_ The door slammed shut in her face.

"Pesky, slimy, perverted little..." Killer muttered under his breath.

_Thud, thud, thud._

He stopped and glanced back.

_Thud, thud, thud._

"Bother someone else!" he growled, reopening the door, only to find Ren looking up at him, her red, slightly flattened tail waving in front of her as she made some nonsense noise. Behind the mask, the human quirked his eyebrows. "It'll heal soon."

"Wawowaowowo..." ...Or something along that line.

"You don't have bones in your body to break, it's only a skin-deep wound," he said.

She didn't budge, only thrusting her tail even more up.

"Hell..." Killer cursed, knowing that she wasn't going to give in. "Wait here if you insist, then!" "Woof!" "You're not allowed inside!" "Woof!"

A strong breeze traveled through the room as Killer searched for the first aid kit in his closet. Unrestrained papers rustled and flew off his desk and shelves. The curtains of the window fluttered outwards. Pages of the books turned and the quill rolled on the ground. Just as he found the kit hidden in a corner, the wind lifted another piece of paper into the air and carried it out of the wide open window, floating down.

By the door, Killer knelt down while unraveling a roll of white bandages, and began soaking a cloth with rubbing alcohol, thinking ways they might be able to recruit a doctor on the next island and worrying about finding a doctor insane enough that would actually _want_ to join a pirate crew. He was having a hard time coming up with believable scenarios. Kidnapping a doctor would only end badly for all of them. Openly recruiting? He'd heard of pirates who operate like that, but never found the method particularly appealing.

"There," he announced after giving one final tug on the knot. "Now leave me alone."

"Woof!" Ren barked with joy, her saliva-dripped tongue extending out as she leaned forward...

A vein popped on Killer's forehead. "Don't think about it!" _Bam!_ She "flew" away.

He sighed and closed the door.

_Hm?_

Papers lay scattered around his floor and desk, including his collection of bounty posters.

"Great," he said sarcastically, bending down and picking them up, setting everything on the desk for sorting. Sitting down, he took a moment and stared at the collection in front of him.

It had taken him years- six years to be exact. Six years of serving on the man that was his father's ship. These posters brought back a lot of unwanted memories. His grip on a poster wrinkled the posters as a flashback ran through his mind- the flashback of that time when Ghanga had found this collection and had nearly discovered- Killer immediately pushed the thought away, and gathered the posters back into a stack.

It wasn't until he'd compiled them did he notice one missing.

He flipped through the stack once.

He looked through it again.

_Where is it?_

He scanned the floor of his room.

_There was a wind, so-_ without finishing, Killer stood up and peered out his window.

And there it was, in the hand of one Eustass Kidd.

* * *

They were going north, and Kidd knew this because the natural compass in him and his "Log Pose" were both tugging towards the same direction. The breeze was blowing from the west, the left of north. The sun was southeast, and climbing higher in the sky. The redhead reviewed these information over with pride, because even though he still considered them useless, he'd finally mastered one thing that Killer had so imposed upon him to learn thanks to his Devil Fruit.

Right now, the captain stood at one side of _Maria_, looking afar at the horizon, lost in thoughts as the ship sailed forward. The day had gone relatively normal- much better than yesterday, where they encountered... Oh hell, that thing probably didn't have a name, not that he cared. At least they were all set for food for the next few weeks because of that eccentric-looking Sea King.

A piece of paper suddenly smacked him in the back of his head.

_Huh?_

He frowned and took it off, glancing up to see where it could've came from and spot an open window, the curtains fluttering in the wind. It was Killer's bedroom.

The redhead looked down at the paper in his hand.

"A bounty poster?" he muttered under his breath, slightly confused for several reasons.

Specifically speaking, the bounty poster was a woman's, and his encounter with bounty posters of women were little to nil so far- there were just not that many pirates that were both important _and _female. However, this one being a woman's wasn't his point of interest at all. More so ever, it was her face which lured his attention.

He couldn't help but stare at the pair of entrancing gold eyes and the head of wild golden hair, staring straight into the camera with a sneer- though he stared so more with surprise and awe than anything else. With the aura of a queen and the beauty worthy of a goddess, Kidd was sure that she'd give the Pirate Empress a run for her title. Blandly put, this unknown female was _incredibly_ beautiful, and even such description did her no justice.

His gaze traveled downwards and found her name in bold print.

"Bo... Bo..." His eyebrows furrowed. "Boa...Hel...e...le...na... Boa?" Hancock's name vaguely came mind. "Boa Helena."

Then, there was the second thing; this bounty poster was no doubt old. The paper used was rougher, the ink duller, and edges were crumbled- the top-right corner of the poster was missing.

If she was an old pirate, then why wasn't she part of the collection of bounty heads that he was required to know?

"One, two, three..." Kidd muttered, counting the zeros of the price.

Not important enough?

He counted eight zeros and a six.

"Ten, hundred, thousand..." he went on, and concluded some times later with suspicion running high. "...six hundred million?" _Who the hell is she?_

"What are you doing?" Kidd inwardly jumped and spun around to face Killer, who very quickly proceeded to take Helena's poster out of his hands. "This isn't part of what you need to know. Where's your stack of posters?"

The captain scowled, thinking back to that pile of paper that he'd discarded somewhere in his room, dreading the thought of even pulling them out again.

"Oi!" he called out to his leaving first mate, stopping the blond in mid-step. "Who is she, and why do you have a bounty poster of her?" As soon as he said that, blood flushed his face; the last part sounded too demanding than he'd intended.

There seemed to be a hesitation in Killer's step that Kidd couldn't decide what the cause was.

"She's an old bounty head, isn't she? And her last name is 'Boa', as in the Pirate Empress?" he went on, taking a step forward. "I find it quite strange that you'd disregard a six hundred million criminal of a woman unimportant." He shut his trap about the part of the poster coming from Killer's bedroom, even though, for whatever reason, he didn't like that idea.

Kidd waited.

"She's not someone you need to know," the masked man said.

"Tell me anyway!"

Weird, the redhead quickly looked away. _I'm wanting a lecture for the first time?_

But Killer stayed.

"Boa Helena," Killer said, ever hesitating. "Was the former-former-former-former empress of the Kuja Tribe of Amazon Lily. She died approximately forty years ago. She was one of the most infamous empress of that tribe, and like the current Kuja Empress who took after her, her beauty had quite a reputation as she had also been the former most beautiful woman in the wold. I don't know how her and Boa Hancock are related.

"Her reign over her tribe came about ten years prior to her death," he continued. "During that ten year time, she waged two wars against the World Government."

Kidd stared back, startled. "She waged wars against the World Government?" he echoed with disbelief. "Was she mad?"

"The first war she was provoked to after she was first issued a small bounty of five million beri. The posters reached the wrong hand, and her beauty caught the attention of a Tenryuubito who demanded that she be made one of his concubines. His proposal ship was sunk, and him killed. As of result, one of the admirals was sent, but he was unexpectedly killed as well. Two days later, Boa Helena officially declared war on the World Government, a war which lasted a total of three months.

"In those three months, the Kuja Pirates effortlessly demolished twenty-three fleets of marine ships at the edge of their Calm Belt, earning Helena the bounty you just saw, and the title 'The Woman Who Sunk a Thousand Ships.'

"The second war was declared eight years later after the first, and she passed away in the middle of it."

Kidd took a moment to stare at the picture of the woman.

"You're an admirer," he concluded as Killer's movement stilled. His stomach churned with unease and something close to anger as a short silence dragged.

There was something in his voice that he couldn't quite place.

"You hate the World Government, and she successfully waged a war against it." He looked into Killer's faceless mask. "And she was beautiful." There was definitely something wrong with his voice now. "You said so, she died, right?"

His first mate folded the poster up.

"Yes, she was an admirable character," he answered. "I've told you what I know about her, now you can go and study all the others. Since she wasn't part of Roger's Pirate Age, her person and history isn't much of a concern." And the man started to walk away once more.

A new kind of determination surged within Kidd at that second. It was now or never, he told himself. He wouldn't let this chance slip away. There had been _too_ many awkward moments, especially when there shouldn't be any. He knew that something was going on here with him, and Killer knew it too. Whether the masked man liked it or not, his first mate was going hear it, and he was going to hear every word.

"We need to talk."

* * *

"_We need to talk_."

They said that out of all the sentences in human language, that was the one that spelt the most trouble, and Killer had sensed that trouble the moment it left Kidd's lips. At those words, he stopped dead in his track, and hesitated for the third time in the hour.

"What is it?" he asked, a most natural thing.

"Not here."

They needed to talk, but not out in the open.

And that was how Killer found himself in Kidd's dumpster-like bedroom a minute later, facing the redhead who sat on the bed.

There was a serious look like he'd never seen before on his face that, for once, made him uncomfortable to be in its presence. He watched with patience as Kidd opened his mouth once, only to hear some sort of gagging sound coming out, followed by a split second expression of embarrassment before the redhead tried once more. Whatever it was, Kidd was having a hard time expressing it.

"Have you had sex with anyone before?"

Killer blinked and frowned behind his mask, dumbfounded. "...Excuse me?"

On his side, Kidd was beginning to think that maybe he'd made a mistake. But it was out, it was done, and Killer would have to answer it, he hoped, and take the subject somewhere.

"I want to know," he said.

The masked man shook his head. "That's none of your business, and beside that point, you don't go around asking people such a question!"

"I'm not asking just anyone whether they had sex or not, I'm asking _you_," Kidd argued. "Answer me!"

"I do not have to," Killer snapped, still baffled. "You have no right to ask me that."

"Then I'm ordering you to!"

If he thought that he was taken aback before, then no adjective could describe how he was feeling now. Killer sat in his seat, bewildered beyond anything he'd felt in his life as Kidd kept staring right at him, almost like he was afraid to look away.

"I'm your captain, and I want to know!" the redhead went on in the mist of the silence.

"Is it that woman?" he growled, thinking back to Rozara. A small rage began building up within him as Kidd slowly shrunk back at the mention of her. "Something happened with her, didn't it? What did she do to you?"

"Nothing happened-"

"Don't lie to me!" He was close to shouting. "What the hell happened with her?"

Kidd held his cool as he saw Killer firing up, and kept his gaze where it was, challenging that demand. He was the captain, he told himself, he had a right to deny, a right to know, and right to everything that Killer had and had been. It didn't matter one bit by this point if his first mate acknowledged him or not!

"Answer my question first," he pressed on. "And I'll answer yours. I asked first!"

"You're demanding absurdity!" Killer snapped.

"I don't care!"

He saw the masked man's hands clenching into fists. "Kidd, I..." There was a sigh. "Fine! I did!"

"With whom?"

"You're not-"

"Just tell me!"

The air, by then, was so frigid and thick that it could probably to cut apart by a knife, but both of them held on to their side, like some sort of a contest.

"A woman." Killer broke it. "I was seventeen and curious, and she got taken as a prisoner by Cross-Blades. So I slept with her."

A dreadful, sinking feeling engulfed Kidd's whole being hearing that. He pressed his lips together, jaws ground. "You slept with a woman?" he heard himself hissing through his teeth.

Killer forced himself to higher his head. "Is there something wrong with that?" he asked coldly.

"And what happened from there?" It didn't escape his notice that Kidd completely avoided the question. What was happening here became crystal clear; Kidd asks, he answers, and even if he tried to leave, he wouldn't be able to. Not matter how ridiculous everything seemed like at the moment, the redhead was dead serious.

"She died. She died in Ghanga's bed because she figured out that sleeping with the vice captain wasn't going to save her life!" he said, then in a smaller voice, remembering how Ghanga had looked went he'd asked why he'd killed her. _"Is there something wrong with cleaning up after my son's discarded trash?"_ the man had slurred as he watched the corpse being tossed overboard. _"After all, you're the one who casted her out of your room, aren't you?"_ "I didn't care enough to at the time."

The best option here, Killer told himself, would be for him to just go along with it.

"And?"

"And nothing. She died."

"No, I'm asking you who else."

He froze again.

"Who else?" Kidd repeated, still starting straight at him. There was a strange glint in his eyes that Killer couldn't quite place. He'd never seen him like this before.

"I'll ask you this again," he hissed after a moment. "Why do you want to know?"

"Who else?"

The air by then, was beyond frigid.

Another long while passed before Killer resumed. "When I first joined Ghanga's crew," he said, his voice sounding more hollow and alien than he'd ever imagine it could be. "They did not respect me yet like you'd seen. A lot of them heard about my mother through _him_, and one... He didn't get far, but he managed to unmask me-" Kidd's eyes snapped wider. "He was the first person that I intentionally killed. I left him dead below deck, and nobody found his body for three weeks."

"He saw your face?"

Killer opened his mouth, and closed it again. "...I killed him."

"But he saw your face!" Kidd repeated.

"Whether he did or not is not important-"

"Yes it is!" the captain exclaimed with rage, standing up.

"And why is that?" Killer snarled, finding himself on his feet as well.

"Did she see it too, then? Did you take off your mask-"

"Of course not!_"_

"Good!" Kidd heard himself hiss. Still, his inside refused to ease or calm as words chimed themselves over and over again.

Someone had seen Killer's face before him. Someone had touched Killer already, and it'd been woman! A woman! And if Killer liked women- No! He stomped out of the idea, pushed it away as a surge of fury welled up within him. The reason was a blur, not that he cared for why, the very idea enraged him, and that was all that mattered now.

"Who else?"

"No."

"I'm ordering you to tell me!"

Killer's fist struck his left cheek, sending him crashing into the back wall. "Don't think that you're qualified to order me around!" the masked man spat at him. "What the hell is wrong with you? She did something didn't she? Tell me what that woman did to you!"

Kidd pushed himself up. "Who else?"

_Bam!_ His skull slammed against the hard wood, Killer's hand grasped his forehead, nearly covering his eyes. His first mate was close; the redhead could smell the ever-familiar scent. The hand was shaking. It slowly released him, setting itself on his shoulder. He flinched at the touch, looking up.

"This conversation will end here."

_No..._

"Killer-" he began to whisper.

"I said, 'This-"

"I've been dreaming," he said in a firmer voice. "About sex."

That stopped Killer, who shifted his mask towards Kidd, and stood straight, backing off a step. The information hit the blond a lot harder that it should have, and he inwardly smacked himself for not seeing it- just like he hadn't with Kidd's illiteracy. However, unlike Kidd not being able to read being something only frustrating and even funny, to some extent, this subject was an entirely different matter.

"Why didn't you just say so from the beginning?" he questioned, and saw the other flinch.

"Because..." Kidd answered, not really resolving a thing.

Beneath the mask, Killer swallowed and took a deep breath. "I don't see any ways that I can help you, since I assumed that you know the basics." After a second, he added, "Besides, there are no women on this ship."

It was then that something else hit him too. A flood of guilt suddenly overwhelmed him as he stared at the younger man, now knowing exactly what he had caused. He regretted not thinking it over. There were no women on this ship, there might never be a woman in the crew. After Kidd became the Pirate King, what would be the first thing that he'd wanted? ...No, of course, it couldn't be the first thing, but it'd come somewhere along the list.

Kidd would want someone.

But he was a pirate. _He's a pirate because I made it so._

_I'm responsible._

He opened his mouth to apologize. It wouldn't do any good, but words were the best he could offer. Their dreams were more important, and maybe someday if their dreams succeed, he'll help Kidd to get the normal life that he de- A tight, painful squeeze in his chest stopped him from speaking, and even if it hadn't, Kidd already did so.

"But I have you."

Killer leaned back, not believing what his ears heard. "...What?"

Kidd mustered together whatever little confidence he had left. "Sex between two men is possible, right?"

He held his breath and waited, never feeling more anxious. His heartbeats drummed like constant thunder.

"Let's drop this," Killer said darkly as he turned away, preparing to leave.

Before, he held his breath, now, he couldn't breathe as the sound of Killer's footsteps echoed through the heavy, tense atmosphere of the quiet room, heading in the direction of the door. The masked man reached for the knob and-

"Why?" he managed to choke out before the handle turned.

"Because you don't know what you're doing or saying."

Everything else subsided as anger arose in him. "I do _too_ know what I'm talking about!" he screamed.

"You're not seeing my point-"

"No I'm not!" Kidd snapped, fists forming by his side. A dark shadow fell over his eyes as he marched over to the other. "So you tell me what your point is! What do I need to do? JUST WHAT PART OF ME DOESN'T QUALIFY?"

"DON'T TWIST MY WORDS!" Killer snarled right back, and yanked opened the door.

"Wait- Don't walk out on me! KILLER-"

_Bam!_

…

…

…

_I fucked up._


	40. Inter Arc: A Son's Betrayal

**Author's Note:** Thank you _quiveringflame, ChibiFluff, Dogychou, crazymoon, yumeniai, doriansburial, RedValentino, anonymous_ and the-person-who-didn't-leave-a-name for reviewing!

WHAT THE HELL IS WITH MY CHAPTER LENGTH LATELY! THEY'VE ALL BEEN TOO DAMN LONG! *RAAAAAGE*

On a more serious note, I see that the last chapter stirred up some concerns, huh? Let me address the issues that the story permits me to so far...

First of all, did Killer get raped? No, he didn't, but like it was stated in the previous chapter, the asshole who tried it came as far as taking his mask off- maybe he ripped open a shirt- when Killer killed him. There's another reason for why he took Kidd's… "confession" ... like he did.

Next point. Can I say that I'm surprised to have surprised some of you with their argument? XD 'Cause I sort of am. I found your shock understandable though... However, I've told people in several Author's Notes before; this story is looooooooooong- estimated to be 133 chapters and two years to be specific. And now with my poor planning, I daresay that it's hitting 150 chapters. Meaning, Kidd and Killer got time- _a lot_ of time- to set things straight. In fact, what happened is _nowhere_ near the worst.

To _crazymoon _about the "yaoi" part: it's true that I'm terrible at porn, but there's not going to be _none_. There will be three full out "Lemon" scenes just for us perverts, which, sadly for you lot not writing them, isn't that much compare to other yaoi fics.

And lastly, to _Dogychou_: When you have two different people with polar opposite views on what's right and wrong, and both stood fiercely by and justify their own side, you get sharp contrast of characters. Hiroki and Camry are _very_ different people. Nakamaship is definitely present, however. The story just hasn't gotten to the point where it can be shown properly yet. :)

Phew! That's one long note. Any other questions I didn't address I didn't on purpose. Not because I forgot; I refuse to spoil anymore. DX Happy Halloween people!

Moving on!

I don't like this chapter. It disappointed me. I hope it doesn't disappoint you as much.

* * *

Thirty-Eight

"Aniki, spot one!"

"Oh, you did?" Mustang's head poked out of the operation room, and looked up at the crow's nest where Chevy was scanning the sky with a pair of binoculars. "Where?"

"It's coming towards the ship at twelve o'clock!" the younger announced, pinpointed at the object. "It's a... Wait a minute, it's not a wild bird; it's only one of those Newspaper Delivery Seagull. Damn..." He gave a small sigh before continuing. "Anyway, I think it's landing. Should I shoo it away?"

"No, buy a roll! It's been too long since we got news anyway," the older said.

"Got it."

Chevy set down his binocular as the bird approached, claws extending out for a grip on the crow's nest. It cawed loudly at him as he walked towards it, fishing his pocket for change as it dumped a thick roll of paper out of its pouch, pointing at the price-tag on its breasts with a wing.

"'Place money here, exactly change appreciated...'" the human read as he threw in a 900 beri coin into the small coin slot. "Here you go. Thank you."

"Squawk!" the seagull answered before taking flight once more. Chevy watched it go for a moment before turning his attention down at the paper in his hands.

Blood drained from his face as he saw the headline.

"''Straw Hat' Luffy Attacks Palace of Arabasta, Former Shichibukai 'Sir' Crocodile Convicted of Class-A Crime'!" he read, stunned. "...An one hundred million beri worth of a bounty head... Assaulting civilians and directly attacking the World Government... Brought down 'Sir' Crocodile's secret underground organization, 'Baroque Work'..." he summarized, in his own zone, his eyes growing bigger and bigger with each passing line. "...That crew must be insane! Who the hell would go up against the World Government like this?"

Several people in the world sneezed simultaneously.

He quickly brushed aside the astonishment and flipped to the bottom of the front page, where a smaller article on another rookie by the name of 'Mage' Hawkins greeted him, then to the left of that, another story on someone called 'Surgeon of Death', Trafalgar Law, then another one on some kingdom's financial crisis. The teen shook his head and refused to read any of them.

_The world is in such turmoil,_ he thought depressingly as he opened the paper, scanning over the headlines and seeing new bounty posters after another stuck inside along with the printed stories on those criminals. _These pages are filled with nothing but news of wars and deaths and..._ He took a moment to grimace..._ ads._

He turned another page.

And screamed.

The door to the operation room flew open. Chuckie's running footsteps came thumping from the rear deck with Hiroki following closely behind. Camry emerged from the kitchen with his knife in hand and Ren peeking from his right, mouth full of cookies.

Killer came out just in time to see Chevy wobbling crazily on the edge of the crow's nest, arms flailed, waving a bundle of newspapers as he began losing balance.

Seconds later..._BOOM!_

His crewmates watched as he fell screaming with fright and crashing into the floorboard, creating a human-shaped hole in the deck floor.

"Chevy!" Mustang called with worries, rushing over to his younger brother, who struggled crawling out of the hole. "Oi, are you all right?"

"That- That hurts," said brother winced as he pushed himself up.

"What were you doing up there?" Camry asked with furrowing eyebrows as he sat down safely. "You lost balance in the crow's nest and somehow tipped over?"

"Quite an unusual circumstances," the shipwright commented, eying the odd-shaped hole. "I'm sure that there's a proper explanation."

Chevy didn't waste anymore time. "Killer-san!" he shouted for their second-in-command, holding out the paper to him. "I've got bad news! Take a look at this. We're in trouble!" The masked man took it from him. "Flip to page eight!"

Everyone leaned forward to the source of paper rustling, and Chuckie stood tip-toed, trying to get to the same height as everyone else- Hell, even Ren got taller than him as she stood on the uttermost hind muscle of her tube-shaped body. He was annoyed by this fact as he squinted. _I can't see!_

_Hm? Isn't that a picture of Hiroki-san on a..._

"NO WAY!" Mustang was the first to react; he stumbled back and nearly fell into the created hole himself.

"Hm?"

"You've got to be..."

There was a good silent minute before any of them move again

"It's not just me," the shipwright said as he took the single paper out, sparing a glance at a newly printed poster of his captain, knowing that Killer's poster was underneath. "Looks like we got an upgrade. That's good. I wonder when they took this picture though..."

"A thirty-eight million bounty?" Camry whispered, looking down at the numbers, his face dark with strained lines.

"Congratulation," Killer muttered, occupied with the article.

"Thank you," Hiroki said back as he observed his poster, still thinking about where exactly was there a camera in the palace. After some time, he still couldn't figure it out. _Marines work in strange ways_, he decided, and shrugged the subject off. "What does it say?"

"Only four people died in the fire," came the answer. "A surprisingly low number, considering the size of that fire. However, the financial loss from the fire came to a staggering twenty-four billion beri, as well as the homelessness of nearly two million people in population, including the royal family... "'Dead Eyes' Hiroki invaded the castle and set fire on the royal garden of blue, highly flammable plants, a terrorist act that declared-'" He stopped there and shot a look at the unmoved shipwright as Ren shifted this way and that, trying to have a good look. "The prince also died in the fire. It didn't state outright that you killed him, but watch your victims next time."

"The people of Bleu should be thanking me," the black-haired man replied casually. "I will take your advice into consideration, however, but it couldn't be helped last time anyway..." His lips curved up just the slightest as Camry flinched. "His ankle was broken after all, and you can't really expect me to carry him, can you?"

Killer chose to let it go, and turned back to the article.

_Is he reading it over?_ _It's not that long. _Chuckie thought with a frown, watching the masked blond's stiff posture with concern. Although the air wasn't cold, there was a vibe coming from the man that had nearly the same effect- daunting, like he was losing his will. The boy forced himself away, and met eyes with Chevy.

_Chevy-niisan knows that there's something wrong here too. And Camry-niisan...Why does he look so mad?_

"I don't like it."

Hiroki's out-of-the-blue declaration caught their attention.

"What don't you like?" Mustang asked.

"I don't like it, because I don't get it," he explained, looking at his poster, displeased. "Out of all the things they could've called me, why 'Dead Eyes'? It's illogical."

"You don't get to pick what your enemies call you," Killer said, recalling how Kidd had complained about _his_ epithet when his first bounty came out. "Live with it."

"That doesn't make it less unlikeable or illogical," Hiroki pointed out. How were his eyes dead in any ways shape or form? Addition to functioning strangely physical-wise, Marines must also function strangely mental-wise. He believed such condition to be called 'Brain Malfunction.' To make the matter worse, the term actually sounded plausible.

But then Chevy said, "You don't know? Your eyes look like they don't belong to a living person sometimes. They're unnerving to look into."

Which stopped him for a while.

"They do?" he asked.

"Of course they do!" Mustang agreed wholeheartedly. "Haven't you ever looked at them in the mirror?"

"...I don't look into mirrors often..."

"They look as if you died with your eyes open," Chuckie offered, furthering the point. "How can you not have noticed? It's practically the first thing that jumped out at me when I met you!"

"Really?" Hiroki questioned with disbelief.

"Really!" the three of them shouted back.

"Is it true, Killer-san?"

"They stand out," the masked man merely responded.

"Is that so..." He held the poster closer and gazed into the eyes of his photographed self, forehead a little scrunched with concentration. He gazed deep into them, and deeper... deeper... deeper. Everyone watched him as he did so, waiting.

"They look very much alive to me," he declared, looking up.

"THEY'RE DEAD!"

* * *

Oceans apart, the sky was brewing up a storm in South Blue.

"_Did you hear?"_

"_...Impossible... I thought..."_

"_When did this happen?"_

"...A thirty-eight million bounty?" A man whispered in a trembling voice, unable to keep his sight away from the picture on the poster, his gun falling on the floor with a loud clank. "No mistake, this is without a doubt Hiroki-sama! What's with this bounty on his head? ….Now that I think about it, where was he for the past two months? Pirates?_ Pirates?_ We haven't heard a word about this!"

His companion shushed him and snatched the poster away, stuffing it into his pocket.

"Quiet down!" he said to the first man. "You don't want the oyabun to hear you now, would you? Ever since this bounty came out, Takamaru-sama has been going on a nonstop rampage for the last few days. Yesterday, he killed three tossing them out the window thirty floors up just for mentioning the young master's name. He's furious!"

"But _pirates_? How can the young master associate himself with pirates when he knows how Oyabun-sama feels about them? What about this family? Isn't he the only heir? How is the family suppose to go on without a successor?"

"Who knows-"

"Oi, oi! It couldn't be a fake poster, could it?"

The second man shook his head. "Not a chance, this is the third paper that I've seen covering the story, and besides, didn't you hear? Someone from the South Blue Headquarter arrived today! _No _marines dare to enter Brecciame unless it's for the yearly inspection on Captain Pinacho, yet-" He suddenly stopped, face turning as white as sheet. "...Get back! Get back! Stand! He's here!"

A dark air overtook the corridor as footsteps clicked soundly on the marble floor. The guards, reverted back to their positions, straightened their spines as the yakuza don marched in sight.

Takamaru's anger swirled around him like wind. The ground trembled beneath his feet, cracking and denting every time his shoes met it. Sounds of the walls cracking and splitting could be heard as he went down the long hallway in wordless fury. His wife walked beside him, her usual proud neck bent, her face emotionless and her lips thin. Behind them followed four men, black, weary shadows shielding their eyes.

"Good morning, Oyabun-sama," the two guards quickly said, bowing deeply as he passed them.

Takamaru disregarded them.

Still as statues as small pebbles and sand-size rocks rained on them from the ceiling, the two kept their heads down until the footsteps disappeared before sighing with relief.

_That was close._

* * *

Down the hall, behind a closed door, a marine waited.

Which marine was not of importance, for the result would still be the same. With a black briefcase, one of the yakuza underlings stepped forward and opened the door, gesturing his boss and Ane-san in.

"Long time no see," the marine sitting on the table said, cigar smoke drifting upward from in front of his face. "Seems like you've ran into some trouble, eh, Takamaru? I trust that you know why the South Blue Headquarter sent me today. So... Let us proceed."

The underling with the briefcase set said item in the middle of the table, stepping back respectfully as his oyabun took a seat across the officer.

"There is no need for such interrogation," the man whispered coldly, folding his hands together in a business-like manner as he opened up the side of the briefcase, pulling out sheets of paper. "Because you see, I've already went ahead with the legal procedures. I have no connection whatsoever with pirates."

The marine raised an eyebrow as the paperwork was set in front of him, and frowned.

"...This is a problem," he finally muttered under his breath. "I cannot submit something like this to the higher-ups."

"Do as you will," Takamaru said, spreading his hands carefreely, leaning back. "The paper went through yesterday morning. I have no obligation to answer any of your questions."

"You are not understanding me," the officer said after a while, eying the paper nervously. "I was sent here to inquire information, Mr. Shinoda-" His words were cut short as the briefcase snapped open, exposing to him neat stacks of beri bills. His eyes popped out, jaws dropped and the cigar fell from between his lips. Stunned, he coughed and gagged, rising up from his seat. "...I may not be a part of your organization, my friend," he said, filled with disbelief, looking up at the hard-faced yakuza don. "But even I know you and the way of the Shinoda-kai. Bound by blood, and trust no outsiders. Are you pronouncing the death of your family today by denouncing your only heir, or have you got something up your sleeves again?"

"No," came the answer. "_You_ are not understanding _me_."

Chiyo jumped as her husband stood up as well.

Her blood rushed with excitement, anticipating the next words eagerly, knowing what was happening.

She couldn't believe it.

She couldn't believe it herself when her stepson had performed what he did, even though she herself was the only personal witness. But now... This... Her heart soared with triumph, hearing the words, and her hands flew to her pregnant stomach, where she still held her child, and bit down the coming smirk. She must be dreaming!

"Obey me, and you'll be handsomely rewarded. This is what I want you to write, 'There was a mistake,'" Takamaru dictated to the man. "'Shinoda Hiroki has no affiliation nor relation with Shinoda Takamaru or any of his associates. Do not insult an honorable man by connecting his blood with that of a pirate!'"

Chiyo closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, the corner of her lips tugging upwards.

"Do we have a deal, _friend_?" she heard her husband snarl.

"...Of course..."

Her expression reverted back to normal, feeling his eyes on her, and played the stoic, upright wife of a yakuza she was.

But the glee danced.

However black his heart may be, however cruel he might be, and however necessary Hiroki was to continue the family, her husband in the end had no choice. Ruthlessness and pride, his two biggest flaws, played perfectly. The bastard-child was gone at last, and she was secured.

Her mind brought her back to the past, to the dream of which she'd so long desired.

That day, she had stood frozen by the doorway. A beautiful, cold-eyed woman was smirking at her.

"_They underestimated us, Chiyo_," Montressa's voice came back to her, as composed as it always was, but at that moment, all she could see was insanity in the older woman's eyes as she stood over the dead body of Shinoda Masaru with a bloody dagger. Montressa then pointed the dagger at her. _"Tell no one."_

Her husband at the time was young, naïve, and had no idea how to hold the power that was about to be passed on to him, and his own mother had understood that. And with every action worthy of a woman of the Shinoda-kai, she'd murdered her own husband in cold blood, thus gaining control over the family, even if it was for a short while.

A short while, because Chiyo soon understood it too. She wondered if Montressa's ash urn was still in a corner of her closet somewhere or not.

Then the hunt began. She'd chased down, located, and killed every single woman that Takamaru had a past affair with, all the illegitimate children, and skillfully handpicked all tortures herself. Soon, it was made clear to everyone who even dared to challenge her title, an open secret which only her husband did not know.

Chiyo did not know how _that_ one woman got away.

It'd taken years to hunt her down, to capture and kill her, and she'd thought that she'd won. For days, she celebrated.

Until Hiroki was led beyond the family front door, a tiny hand clutching tightly on Takamaru's giant thumb as he was introduced to his new mother, gazing up at her with a pair of large unreadable, lifeless black eyes.

A little three year old destroyed her life.

_But_, she thought as she slowly caressed her belly._ He will no longer be a problem._

* * *

Seventy

"This kind of a bounty is scary," Mustang stated loud and clear as he held the paper in hand, a droplet of sweat running down from his forehead to the tip of his chin. "Even if we did everything out of self-defense, it shows... We went overboard. A thirty-eight million starter-" He looked at Hiroki, and then back at the poster. "-And Boss with seventy million beri; a twenty-five million beri rise isn't something to be taken lightly!"

"I see no problem." the shipwright said.

"How can you not?" Camry snapped, making his brothers jump. "We're being portrayed as murderers!"

"That's not something we can help. We're pirates; whom do you think would most likely be blamed?" Hiroki said indifferently. "Murderers, thieves- pirates had been all. None of them are ever taken by the public as heroes."

The cook glowered at him, fists tightened. "You-"

"Stop it," Killer commanded, easing off all violence, and snatched the poster away from Mustang. "Where's Kidd?"

"Boss is at the rear deck," Chuckie answered.

_At the rear deck? _The masked man narrowed his eyes.

The thought of getting Kidd himself was the first thing to pop up, before a second notion defeated that. What happened days before hit him like a ton of bricks; they weren't exactly communicating. Hell, had they talked within these last few days? Killer swallowed hard, feeling slightly overwhelmed like he had when the whole ordeal started in the redhead's room.

"Get him for me," he whispered. There was no way he could start now. Not yet, not until this thing between them somehow passes.

"Well... He's sleeping," the boy continued. "He was reading a really thick book before."

_...Reading?_ Killer stopped once again, a frown graced his face. _I didn't tell him to do any reading. And a _thick_ book?_

Then he heard Chucki snicker. "It was really funny to watch too!" the child claimed with a teasing grin, scratching Ren's neck as the worm purred with contentment. "He was holding the book upside down for three minutes before he noticed it, and he kept muttering something about 'not qualifying' or whatnot! Hahaha! What an idiot!"

Innocently put as it was, the words felt like a blow in the gut to him.

_Kidd, why would you? You don't know what you're doing..._

_This can't continue on._

"Killer-san," Hiroki said. "If something is wrong, it's best if you tell us."

Was something wrong? Yes, of course something was wrong here! This wasn't the way things were suppose to go! Kidd should be focusing on becoming the Pirate King! After all these time of him forcing the redhead to study, why was he starting now just because Killer called him out as unqualified?

_Unqualified, as in unqualified of becoming a proper captain!_ He thought with anger, not even noticing the fact that his grip was crumpling the papers. _Not a-_ _ He shouldn't even be thinking of such thing!_

"Killer-san?" Chevy voiced in concern.

"...Nothing."

* * *

In South Blue, the storm grew and shifted. The Sea Devil seemed to be sending his high tides on one island particularly as the inhabitants of that island shrank away from the island's edges that day, huddling with fear and uncertainty inside their homes. Outside, marines guarded their posts with equal weariness. By the shore, a warship docked there in all its majesty, surrounded by small ships. The sky was gloomy, sullen, gray.

The villagers never had something like this happening to them before.

"It's been over two months," a young man with sandy-blond hair muttered as he peeked out a window. "They're not going to leave any time soon. I can't believe this. Not only a warship and a commodore got sent here-" A team of agents in black suits walked by. "-But also the Cipher Pol. I've heard of those government agents, but I've always doubted their existence."

"They've questioned everyone they can question," an old man said beside him. "They will _have_ to leave soon."

Saru shook his head. "No, not yet. They've begun digging holes around the forest right now. The hut has been deteriorated and burn. They're definitely looking for something." He squeezed the shutter. "And Kidd-san's new bounty isn't helping either. This is the third time, and with a seventy million beri price too. It's already bad enough that he went outright and attacked an island in South Blue, but now he's in Grand Line and still going strong. I've never seen him as anything of the devil during the time I know him, but just seeing these price jumps... It makes me reconsider. Even so, the World Government's presence here is abnormal."

"Ay, it is," Akio said, glancing at Kidd's new poster on the kitchen table. "I only hope that it's a farce of the media again."

"You boys stop worrying," his wife scolded from the sink where she was doing dishes. They turned around, looking at her stern, wrinkled face as she sighed. "Whatever that child does has nothing to do with what is going on here right now!"

The old woman sighed, putting away a stash of clean plates.

"I always thought," Akio muttered a moment later. "That there was something off about Wergil."

* * *

Outside, the Cipher Pol team gathered around their chief. A total of five agents, they stood stoically as the chief, a man in his late fifties, gazed at them.

"Report," he said.

"Nothing," replied one, a long, tall and thin man with an inflated butt which was sticking out, and a pair of large neon red eyes with compound pupils.

"Nothing-ga," the second reported, a small, petite-looking female with three different colors in her hair in neat columns- red, yellow and blue.

"Emptiness perceives my eyes as far as I could see," said a Mohawk man with black and round sunglasses. "It echoes through the fabric of times, presumably lost in the pattern of space."

"Nothing nothing nothing," a squat man with brown dreadlocks said.

"Nothing," the last person, a large figure hid by a black cloak, said in the most robotic, genderless voice imaginable.

There was a minute of silence as they stood together. Finally, the only woman spoke up.

"Calling us all the way from Grand Line to perform such an useless and degrading task-ga, the South Blue headquarter has gotten some nerves-ga," she complained haughtily, tucking behind her ear a strain of red hair.

"CP CP CP 9 9 9 gets gets gets all all all the the the cool cool cool jobs jobs jobs," the squat man said out loud. "It it it saddens saddens saddens my my my heart heart heart."

"Shut up, Latus-ga!" the woman cried angrily, stomping her foot. "Don't mention that bunch of dipshit in front of me-ga!"

"One shall not be envy of another's fortune, Gagi," the Mohawk man said. "Such unnecessary envy brings illness to the heart, for a wise bird once told me 'Treasure the gold on Earth, for the gold on Sun is not worth a life.'"

"You too, Lee-ga!" she screamed, shaking her fists in the air. "Don't spew your so-called proverbs around me; it mucks my personal space-ga!"

"Over half of CP 9 are currently working as carpenters, secretary and bartender, the other three vacationing in Enies Lobby," the robotic silhouette informed, not moving from its place. "There is nothing to be envious about the amount of paperworks, drunks, bad room service and wood-splinters that they suffered through for the last three years."

The man with compound pupils faced him. "Isn't CP 9 a taboo topic to publicly discuss since they are not an official unit of Cipher Pol?"

"I AM NOT JEALOUS-GA!"

"Enough!" their leader roared, stopping their quarrel at once. "If you were a group off six year olds, I would just ship you all to juvenile delinquent centers-" "-But six year olds-" "Don't talk while I'm talking! I expected better behaviors and attitudes from a cell of the World Government's most elite organization, CP 8!"

They fell silent and stood straighter, the last of their childishness gone as the chief talked.

"We will get down to business!" he declared, stepping up. "For two months that we've been here, we have nothing to guide us except this." He pulled out a small copper coin from his pocket. "A coin found on the floor of the hut, no doubt a currency. A currency which is not recorded nor recognized. A coin of a currency made over eight hundred years ago with an unknown character! You all know what this means."

There was neither a no nor a yes, but it was unanimous by this point.

"Usually, we don't interfere with the affairs of the Blues- they are the business of Cipher Pol one through four, but those cells are not strong nor trusted enough by the World Government to handle this kind of situation," he continued, stepping toward. "Usually, things like this- things concerning _that_ era- are the duties of _CP 9_ to eliminate. We are merely a cell that takes care of Grand Line big-name rookies, and track down possible traitors and enemies; we spy, we investigate. Our number one objective is the Revolutionaries.

"But since the Cipher Pol here, CP 3, isn't trusted enough, CP 9 is busy with another mission, and the Revolutionaries has been quiet as of lately, the responsibility of this problem falls on us. In the name of justice, failures will not be permitted because of your underestimation!

"So far, this coin is the only trace of the Void Century which the marines found. Now, under our orders they are to dig up the surrounding areas of the hut and bring to us any object they might find.

"Disregarding the village legend of Eustass 'Captain' Kidd being a child of the Sea Devil, this so-called soothsayer will be thoroughly investigated, even if it means to unearth his coffin! We will see just how much he knows. We will enforce justice on this island, search every ant and grain of sand!

"If we cannot find anything here, then we will go after the Devil's spawn himself!"

* * *

Forty-Two

"So."

"So," Mustang echoed gravely. "This is it then. We now have three bounty heads in the crew, with Killer-san's at forty-two million beri, a ten million increase."

"We're being portrayed as murderers," Camry hissed under his breath, refusing to look at anyone.

Hiroki glanced at him out the corner of his eyes. "Are you worrying more about losing face, or whether you actually murdered or not?" he asked, snapping the other man to attention again.

"You don't get it!" the cook shouted.

"You two will stop this!" Killer snarled. "It doesn't matter now. We did what we have to do, and a little bit more than needed-" He made a point of glaring at Hiroki. "We are pirates, expect the worst on your name or back out while you still can!" He glared at Camry. "This is inevitable."

"Not to mention, you didn't get the credit for endangering that prince either," the shipwright added on.

Camry backed out and began walking away. "And I hope to never be credited!" he snapped, opening the door to the kitchen.

"Nii-san-" Chevy started to call, only to be stopped by a slam of door.

"I'll talk to him," Mustang told Killer, and got up as well.

A silence dragged on the door as the oldest of the brothers left the scene before the masked man turned towards Hiroki.

"I told you not to provoke him," the blond said. "You could've let it go. He will have to accept it eventually if he's going to stay."

"Nii-san won't leave!" Chuckie cried before Hiroki could answer, and Chevy and Ren nodded. "He might be like this, but he won't leave us, I'm sure of it!"

The black-haired man shook his head. "That's not the problem," he explained. "Him _having_ to accept this is eventual, yes, but him actually accepting it may not be. Camry-san is too idealistic; that's his biggest flaw. Not everything is what he thinks. It'll be the death of him if he doesn't change."

Chuckie frowned. "But I think my brother's fine the way he is!" he protested, challenging the older.

"Yes, but..."

Killer blocked out what ensued, and folded the paper up in his hands, hesitating about what to do with the new posters. In the end, he decided to keep them too.

He quietly left, lost in his own thoughts.

Too many things were going on at once for him to handle. He couldn't concentrate on his objectives- the translation of the Poneglyph had barely made progress in the last few days. He couldn't think. And now this happened.

Killer hadn't really considered what he was doing before. When he joined Ghanga's crew he killed mostly marines, and went out of the way to not harm actual civilians, although most of the time they were murdered any way by other men in the crew. He did nothing to protect them, and he told himself that it was all right. It will all be well once he found someone to fulfill his dream, and and so he bore with it.

He found Kidd, and he convinced himself that everything would be better from then on.

And it _was_ better. It felt like a large rock had been taken from his heart. The presences of the redhead, and the rest of his new crew, beautifully contrasted his life with the Cross Blades pirates. He could careless about Kidd's first bounty poster, and completely neglected all the accusations of the second one. Mass murdering of innocent civilians? Them?

Their cook's reaction came like a slap in the face, and it dawned upon him.

To the world, they were everything that Ghanga once was, and worse.

Worse, because he had taken an active part in it for real.

_None of it was intentional_, he tried telling himself, _and the fire was Hiroki's doing, not Kidd, not mine, and although he's the worst out of us all morality-wise, he'll always have a reason when doing something as extreme as that; he's not crazy or blood-thirsty. _

_We do not kill in cold blood._

It should've made him feel better, but it didn't, because he could no longer justify anything by this point.

There was a sudden warm embrace. _"Life is heaven's most precious gift, Kira-chan."_

_Kaa-san... _He flinched, thinking back to Maria. A lump formed in his throat, choking him as remorse washed over him wave by wave. He was going up against everything she'd believed and taught him. _What would she think of me now?_

He was stopped.

His feet refused to walk further as he saw the sight before him, and for the first time, his mother escaped his mind. He had came to the rear deck.

True to Chuckie's words earlier, there was Kidd there with a heavy, leather-bound book covering his face as he lay on his back, sleeping.

Killer did not know what to do, frozen on the spot.

_Talk_, he willed himself.

"New bounty posters just came in," he found himself uttering the first sentence to the redhead in days.

No response.

_Of course, he's asleep. _

He walked quietly over to Kidd's side, and knelt down, gently taking the book off the other's head. "'Merriweather's Universal Dictionary,'" he read the cover, and blinked in confusion. _Was he looking up a word?_ He opened to the page where Kidd was at before.

It was the copyright page.

He was planning to read the whole dictionary, and fell asleep reading the copyright page.

"If I finish that thing, will I qualify?" Kidd's voice startled him, and he looked over, seeing the redhead sitting up. There wasn't a hint of humor in that face as he stared straight at Killer. "Will I?"

The masked man dodged it again. "...Normally, people do not read the copyright page," he said as apathetic as possible, pretending that he didn't see that flicker in Kidd's eyes when he outright ignored the question asked. "People normally don't read dictionaries either; that's not their purpose. Don't sleep outside, you'll catch a cold."

* * *

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Stop laughing right now!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"There is nothing funny about this!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I swear, Garp, if you don't stop laughing this instance, I will throw you out the window!" Sengoku threatened, pointing a furious finger at the Vice-Admiral rolling on his office floor who was clutching onto an one hundred million bounty poster of a certain strawhat-ed rookie. "He's your own grandson, you narcoleptic idiot! First, it's your damn son, Dragon, and now Monkey D. Luffy's running wild on Grand Line, and he beat up a Shichibukai! Do you have any idea how humiliating this is? ...STOP LAUGHING RIGHT NOW!"

But the "Hero of Marines" could not be stopped. With tears leaking out of his eyes, he laughed on. "HAHAHAHA! HE'S MY GRANDSON ALL RIGHT! HE'S MY GRANDSON! HAHAHAHA!"

The irritated Fleet Admiral sighed and sat back down, trying to tune out the obnoxious clamor in the background and focus on his paperwork.

"Damn you, Roger," he cursed, finding concentration impossible. "AND DAMN YOU FOR BEING SUCH A SHITTY GRANDFATHER, GARP!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

_Blurp blurp blurp blurp blurp,_ Sengoku's Den Den Mushi called. _Blurp blurp blurp blurp blurp. Blurp blurp blurp blurp blurp._ He restlessly picked it up. "QUIET!" he barked at Garp one last time before turning to his call. "Hello?"

There was a silence on the other end. The snail's face remained emotionless.

His irritation, already hitting the highest point that it had ever hit, broke through the meter.

"If this is a prank call, you will go without a paycheck for three months!" he growled, waiting some more just in case it wasn't.

"I see that you're the same as always, Sengoku," a familiar voice finally said. "Is that Garp I hear laughing?"

The Fleet Admiral's eyes shot wide open. "You..." he whispered with disbelief. "OI, GARP!" he shouted. "COME HERE NOW!"

"Huh?" Garp got up from the floor and strolled over to the desk, staring down at the Snail Transponder.

"It's been a while, hasn't it," the snail mimicked a tired voice, and the "Hero"'s eyes popped wide as well. "I'm glad that I'm able to catch you both."

"Jamere..." Garp said, then slowly, his face formed a grin. "Come crawling back to your old friends, aren't you, Vice Admiral? Are you calling to congratulate me on Luffy's new bounty, eh? One hundred million beri; it's outrageous! Outrageous, I tell you! Have you seen it? Isn't it wonderful? He beat up Sir Crocodile, even though the papers all say different-"

"DON'T TELL HIM THAT, YOU IDIOT!" Sengoku barked at him.

Jamere chuckled. "You two will never change," he commented. "Yes, I did see Monkey D. Luffy's new poster. Congratulation, Garp."

"Haha!" the "Hero" laughed triumphantly.

"Don't encourage him!" snarled the beyond-annoyed man. "Anyway," he said, getting serious. "Why have you called us? The last time you did so was nearly six years ago," Then, speaking the next words as if they were a test, "'Water Dragon.'"

Even Garp stayed quiet now.

The two marines waited.

"I need a favor."

They looked at one another.

"Your grandson's new bounty came out three days ago, as did my grandson's new bounty. Have _you_ seen it, Garp?" Jamere said.

"I did," the "Hero" answered. "But, really, I'm surprised. He's less than what I expected! Must be because you started his training to become a great marine too late, hahaha!"

"Shut up! You were training both of your little pests to become 'great marines', and now look what happened to them!" Sengoku shouted, pissed off.

A vein popped on the snail's forehead. "You two listen and stop going off track here! Really, how are you able to operate together all these years without me?"

"We avoid each other as much as possible," they replied simultaneously, earning a long sigh from the other end.

There was a pause before Jamere continued.

"I made a mistake," he said sullenly. "I made too many mistakes. I didn't take him seriously; I didn't think that he'll actually do it. I..." He trailed off by the last "I". "...I want to correct them."

"Too late," Sengoku flat out rejected before anything else was proposed. "He already has a bounty on his head. It cannot be revoked and he cannot be pardoned." He glared sternly at the snail to emphasize his next statement. "Give it up, Jamere. If this is why you called, then we can do nothing. He made the choice when he left home, and you made your choice when you decided not to go after him."

"No," Jamere said. "There is a way. Listen, both of you. I know my own grandson. He is my grandson first. To him, a pirate might just be the last on the list. If I ask him to, he will come back; he'll come back for family's sake. He'll do it! I only need your help to make him see the light..."

He explained to them his plan.

They listened, protested, argued.

Garp caved in first, and quickly Sengoku, under pressure, followed.

"This is ridiculous," the Fleet Admiral kept saying over and over. "Unless becoming one of the seven warlords, a criminal's bounty is never frozen! Besides, how will you know that he'll listen to you? He ran away from home the night before his paperworks to enter the navy finalized! This should tell you something!" He took a moment to glare off-topically at Garp. "You're willing to risk everything you've been keeping a secret for the past forty years just to bring him back?"

"I know," Jamere said with confidence and determination. "Because I know that Killer will never betray Maria!"


	41. An Island, A Woman, A Gate

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _RedValentino, omg, Dogychou, doriansburial, anonymous, little-kiwi-boi, Fluffy, Skadi-Skadi-no-mi, quiveringflame_, and _Hell Changer_ for reviewing!

To _Fluffy_: I have no idea how the marines let those papers write regarding Crocodile's connection with Baroque Works. All I remember was the part about Smoker being credited instead of Luffy for Crocodile's downfall and how his bounty would've been higher had the World Government known about Baroque Works. It was pretty unclear.

To the rest: I can safely tell you this... For those of you who doesn't know, "Kira" is the Latinized version of "Killer." Ghanga named him, so "Kira" is merely a nickname. Sorry to disappoint any of you.

**Arc Disclaimer:** The powers of two main antagonists of this Arc derived from a Harry Potter fanfiction series called Sacrifice Arc by _Lighting on the Wave_. I take credit not for the creation of them, but for the manipulation of them. Any Harry Potter fans out there who hasn't read Sacrifice Arc yet should go read it now! It's the best damn thing to ever be written in my opinion, real books and fanfictions included. I'm _heavily_ influenced by Lightning's writing.

This arc was totally appropriate for October, but my planning screwed up. Ugh.

**Arc Warning:** On my rating, this is the third darkest arc in the story, and perhaps the most fucked up and disgusting one unless I can think of something worse. Prepare yourselves.

OMG! A short chapter! O_O

* * *

The sun was a blessing as its magnificent light bestowed on _Maria,_ warm, kind and just the right temperature. It seemed particularly blessing to one special place on the whole ship; although the weather was the same throughout, Ren always had a feeling deep down inside her little worm heart that the sunlight cast itself on the sea just for her. It might not be true, but that was what she liked to think. She flopped and turned this way and that lazily up in that blessed special place, the crow's nest, soaking in the golden rays.

Sighing with contentment, she wondered if the sun would 'bestow' some house-shaped cookies down to her, perhaps with a sprinkle of Killer-chan...

Meanwhile, down below, regular human activities went uninterrupted by her animal weirdness.

"The day looks good," Mustang commented lightheartedly as he lay back on a chair, crossing his hands behind his head, totally relaxed. His already polished and readied bazooka lay on the floor beside him.

Camry was still busy sharping the sides of his boomerangs as he answered, "According to the boss, we'll be at the next island soon."

"Are we there yet?" Chuckie immediately asked.

"No," the two oldest answered at the same time.

"Aw," he groaned, hugging his iron bat as he gazed into the horizon. A serene smile graced his face. "I hope it's awesome! Isn't Grand Line supposedly full of cool places? I heard that there's an island full of Giants somewhere!"

"Who can tell," Chevy said, filling his pouch of trapping tools. "Killer-san told us to get ready just in case the islanders turn out unfriendly."

"Yeah, don't go wandering off by yourself, Chuckie!" Mustang added, flickering scums from under his nails. "After all-"

"Oi, I see it!" the boy shouted before his brother could finishing, jumping up and down pointing at a growing dot in the distance before running into the operation room. He burst opened the skull door and barged inside before anyone could stop him, and immediately turned on the binocular and set it to the highest setting possible, zooming closer and closer to the target as a grin stretched across his face. "Lemme see it, lemme see it, lemme see it..."

The door behind him reopened once more. "YOU HYPER LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" Camry barked at him. "DON'T MESS AROUND IN HERE!" He seethed at the boy as said child stared into the eyepieces, unmoved by his outburst.

_I don't know why I'm even trying,_ the man thought grimly. "...What are you seeing?"

"Trees," Chuckie reported with a slight disappointment in his voice. He adjusted the binocular. "...It's foggy... Trees and fog... And a family of ducks." He looked away from the island. The disappointment was clear then.

Camry, seeing rather sad face, tried some encouragement this time.

"Why don't you look again? Maybe you'll find a herd of... buffaloes or something," he urged.

"Okay."

Because buffaloes were always exciting. Right.

"No buffaloes either," Chuckie said a moment later, shaking his head.

Hiroki calmly entered the room just as Camry attempted at encouragement again, "Not all Grand Line islands are weird and exotic-" "Excuse me," the black haired man interrupted, glancing down at the boy. "But it seems like you got it on full view, don't you? Won't happen to see anything unusual on there, would it? We want to make sure that it's safe to dock."

"Nothing," came the displeased grunt, causing a small raise of an eyebrow from the shipwright. "This island is a rip-off!" And with that, Chuckie walked out.

Hiroki turned to Camry. "'A rip-off'?" he repeated.

The Mohawk man looked back, and began answering. "This place seems to be quite ordinary; trees, misty forests and-"

The ship suddenly shook, and a high-pitch scream went off outside.

_Hm?_

"What the..."

* * *

In his own room, Kidd was once again- more like for the thousandth time- asleep. One of his hand dangled carelessly off the bed, the other tucked between page two and three of the thick dictionary. A page and a half in four days- he didn't consider that bad progress at all. So what if normal people don't read dictionaries for fun? That wasn't _his_ reason for reading it.

Before the nap, he'd read twenty words. It had been a full hour since then.

A disturbance stirred him, and his forehead wrinkled with irritation before he slowly drifting back to slumber. But as soon as that happened, there was an ear-piercing scream.

_Huh...?_

His bed rocked and shook. He cracked open his eyes the slightest.

_An earthquake?_ he thought absentmindedly, conscious yet emerged. _Only an earthquake. We're on sea... sea-quake? Sea... Sea... '...holds more than one hundred and sixty thousand words'... 'Alphabet to Kanji comparisons'...'equipped with synonyms'...'antonyms...'_ His eyelids slowly closed again.

"BOSS! KILLER-SAN!" Mustang voice shouted outside, and they flew wide. Kidd almost instantly pushed himself off his bed, and kicked his door open.

A blast of high-speed wind hit him in the face, sending him reeling back into the room.

_What the hell is this!_ He hissed as his body crashed against the wall.

There was a loud rip, and he managed to look up just in time to see the door ripping off the metal hinges and flying away. A wave of astonishment washed over him as he rushed outside, fighting the wind. Tides after tides crashed against the ship, the water washed onto the deck. Around them was a monstrous circling wall of water, spinning at great speed along with heavy rain showering down on them. The wind bellowed like a monster, deafening him, tearing the sails and indenting the masts. Woods were sliced and broke apart, almost as if invisible blades were whirling through the air.

"OI, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Kidd screamed with disbelief, gripping tightly on the rail as the wind threatened to sweep him off his feet.

It had already swept Chuckie of off _his_ feet, as the boy was screaming at the top of his lungs all the way by the crow's nest where he clutched onto Ren's tail. The Giant Man-Eating worm had her teeth sank deep into the wood- it was the only thing that kept them from being blown off.

Camry and Mustang were already working on a way to get them down, their plans being fouled each and every single time.

In the operation room, Hiroki had stopped working on the control as the wind swept from under the door. Cuts covered his being as he silently stared at his bleeding hands.

"This wind..." he muttered as one gush after another hacked and diced through the machine. The door behind him suddenly blasted apart.

_BAM! RIIIIIP! BOOM!_

"CHUCKIE! REN!"

"HEEEEEEELP! I'M FLYING!"

With an arm shielding his eyes, Kidd rushed down as fast as he could to where Killer had dug a scythe deep into the broken main mast.

That was when he heard it.

"It" held a deep, sinister rang as it softly brushed past his ears, not carried by the wind, not sounding as if it was from afar, but like a part of the wind itself. "It" being a woman's chuckle, mocking and deadly. The redhead, startled, spun around, head turning frantically this way and that, looking for the source of the sound.

"Kidd?" Killer whispered, seeing him.

And in the mist of the maelstrom, he saw her.

Floating atop of the sea, towering over the pirates, neither young nor beautiful, her gray hair blazed like a storm around her as did her black, fog-like dress, both of which seemed to be blended into the chaotic air like she was the wind itself. She looked down straight at him, knowing that he saw her, and curled her lips up into a crazed sneer. A dark aura of frightening power surrounded this ghastly-looking woman, but what caught Kidd's attention, even so far away, were her eyes.

Pure madness danced in them, as madness danced around her. Madness like he'd never seen before.

He'd seen her from somewhere before. _Who the hell is she?_

Then, before he could browse his memory for an answer, he saw her lifting up an arm, as if throwing something invisible into the air. The next instant, _Maria_ flipped over.

Down they fell as a maniacal laughter crowed with delirium above them.

* * *

Hiroki saw the water disperse beneath him.

For the most part, he held on to the ship as his crewmates fell around him. He saw Camry out the comer of his eyes grasping the hand of his youngest brother, who still held onto Ren's tail. On the other side, Mustang had taken hold of the rope that Chevy clung onto. In front of him, the captain had attached himself to Killer using the masked man's scythes.

Someone was laughing above them.

A wall of water suddenly cut between, and a blast of wind took him away, and he was able to follow his crewmates' whereabouts no longer.

Seconds later, his head hit the metal plate of the ship's side by the force, and he was knocked into unconsciousness.

...

The floor beneath him was wet, mossy, and dirty. It damped his clothes and stained his cheek as he attempted to get up.

_This is strange,_ Hiroki thought as he sat up, rubbing the back of his aching head where a small bump had formed, eyes guarding his landing site with precision.

The place he'd landed in barely had any light, only flickers here and there. The ground was moist, as were the walls and ceiling. Other than that, all he could make out were the rocks, and the chilliness of the temperature. It also smelled heavily of salt and dead rodents. He stood up, patting away the filth on his clothes the best he could, and scanned the area for any resemblance of an exit. There was but one dark tunnel.

_I cannot be on an island_, he concluded, deciding to resort to logical deduction, not that it helped any with the current situation. He saw not a soul around but himself. _Obviously, there were no other island around either, unless my eyes deceived me. And if I drowned, I should be surrounded by water, not walking and breathing like this. _

Then he thought about it for a moment.

_If I drowned, then I shouldn't be alive either._

_So I did not drown. However, I'm almost positive that we all went down underwater, and this _is_ beneath the ocean surface._ How lucky were they for such a place to exist. He breathed a deep breath, moving his feet.

_Why do I have a feeling that things will go very badly though? _He thought back to what happened before, touching is aching hands lined with small cuts, which had stopped bleeding by now. _That wind was not natural._

He looked up, and narrowed his eyes at the sight he was seeing. The place was plagued with silver cobwebs. Silver webs...

_Spiders?_ If they were underwater, then these should not be here.

_Definitely not natural._

_Where is _Maria_?_

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"All right... How about now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No!"

"But I have to pee!" Chuckie whined, shifting from one foot to another, tears threatened to leak from his eyes as he did so.

Camry angrily pointed at a random spot. "Pee on that rock, dumbass! This is what you get for not going before!"

"But I _was_ about to go before!" his younger brother cried. "Don't blame me! How would I know that this will happen?"

"Wooo..." Ren whimpered by their side, rolling on the damp floor in pain.

"NOT YOU TOO, YOU STUPID WORM! I TOLD YOU TO NOT EAT THAT MUCH FOR BREAKFAST!" the cook barked, then sighed. "Damn it," he muttered, glancing nervously at this unfamiliar cave with precaution. "What the hell happened anyway?"

"Where are we?" Chuckie asked.

"I don't know," he answered, grasping a handful of the boy's shirt, leading him away. "Let's go find the others first."

"But I still have to pee..."

Above them, silver webs hung.

* * *

Chevy trudged along, shoulders slouched and forehead strained as his oldest brother bellowed once again, his voice bouncing off the wet cave walls. No matter what he did or say, he could not seem to convince Mustang that shouting would put them in just as much trouble and it could save them. They were on foreign land, he argued, they should be quiet and prepare for the worst. But like every other time, his plead went unheard.

"OOOIIIIIII!" Mustang relentlessly called down the seemingly endless tunnel they were trekking in. "ARE YOU GUYS THERE? BOSS! KILLER-SAN! HIROKI-SAN! CAMRY! CHUCKIE! REN!"

What was more troubling was the amount of silver webs hanging here and there on the ceiling. Firstly, he'd seen spiders before, and he'd also seen cobwebs, but there was just something off about spiderwebs hanging inside a cave that was most likely below the ocean surface. Then again, this was Grand Line...

But the storm from before made this seem all too suspicious. When going near an island on this sea, the climate should be stable. The island from what he could see from the ship wasn't in the least windy, not to mention the appearance of a strange whirlpool. And was it just him, or did he hear a woman laughing?

He shivered at the memory of that sound. Was she a ghost haunting this place?

"OOOIII, YOU PEOPLE BETTER ANSWER ME..."

* * *

"_Killer!"_

The wind deafened him, the whirling projectiles blocked his sight as he tried again and again to push himself through the air to his first mate, hands stretched out. Killer was flying elsewhere. They were falling, and if they were going to fall, he wanted Killer to fall with him.

"_Attract!"_

Relief filled him as his arms encircled his first mate, not even paying mind to where they were falling, not even noticing the walls of water shooting up, separating them from the rest of the crew. He got him and-

"Kidd, wake up!"

The redhead stirred, but held firm.

"If you do not let go of me this instance, I will cut your hands off!"

His forehead furrowed in his sleep at the threat. Who dared to talk to him this way?

"Brat," the voice continued with a growl. "I will count to three. One..."

_Cut my hands off, will you? I'll kill-_ His eyes snapped open, remembering exactly what was going on.

Killer stopped counting and glared at him pointedly. "My shirt," he said with slight annoyance laced in his voice. "Let go of my shirt."

That was a much milder way to put how he was holding him at the time, but Kidd merely let the embarrassment flush his face pink and released his hold. "Where the hell are we?" he grumbled instead, sitting up as the masked man walked away from him and towards a large silver spiderweb hooked on the wall.

"I don't know," came the answer as the blond turned away from the web, unease.

"...If we fell into a whirlpool, then shouldn't we be under water?" he asked, glancing around.

"We most likely are."

_But I didn't drown?_ Kidd questioned, pondering to himself when he spot something. "...What is it?" he muttered, looking up at a sign which hung above the only entrance he could see, a doorway shut by an iron door. He squinted his eyes, trying to read it.

_Ga... Gat...e... Gate..._

Killer had already stepped forward. "'Gate of Inferno'," he read, and narrowed his eyes beneath his mask.

_'Gate of Inferno'?_ The redhead echoed in his head, frowning. "We're in Hell?"


	42. Welcome to His Lair

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Bakura From School, yumeniai, Dogychou, quiveringflame, RedValentino, doriansburial, anonymous, ChibiFluffy _and _Hell Changer_ for reviewing!

To _anonymous_: Look up "Divine Comedy" :)

**More Arc Disclaimer:** I don't own the _Divine Comedy_, nor do I own the song "High Flying Adored" from _Evita_.

So... I heard that ya'll like long chappies, huh? Well, here you go! ;D From now on, they'll be as long as I can make them. I'll need to because of the timing anyway.

On a random note: Damn, I realized that Frollo from _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ may just be the most awesome villain in history. Esmeralda pole-dancing? "_Choose me or your pyre. Be mine or you will burn!_" Subtly much? XD Disney used to be _so_ fucking ass-kicking! Uh... To make this all less random... I was actually imagining bishie-Killer in the minister robe singing "Hellfire" while Robin danced in the fire. Not to mention how constant "Maria" was in the lyrics- not helping with my weirdness... I'm crazy, aren't I? :|

I'll leave you people alone now.

* * *

Kidd found this hard to believe as he stared up at the crooked, old sign that was half covered with green moss, even though he still could not read the three words. In the mist of this ambiguous silence, he proceeded asking the only question that came to mind, unaware of just how stupid he sounded.

"Are we dead?"

A vein popped on Killer's head.

_Smack!_ "Don't ask such a dumb question, you idiot! Of course we're not dead!" he barked as Kidd held his head, wincing. The masked man, too, looked at the sign, suspicion and weariness twisting and turning his inside as the last word of the three repeated itself over and over to him. "Something's very wrong here," he muttered in a lower voice.

"Of course something's wrong here," Kidd said with a snort. "We're in Hell."

Killer could face-palm right then and there. _Someone explain to me just why I picked this idiot again._

"We're _not_ in Hell!" he said exasperatingly, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. This was not the time to get irritated over little issues. "But..." he continued in a more serious manner, still not taking his eyes off the sign as his predictions and the fear from them flashed over and over again. "If what I'm thinking is right, we might be in a place worse."

The redhead frowned at him. "What? Why?"

"I can be very wrong- In fact, it's very likely that I'm wrong, and I hope I am," he began, and hesitated for a second before resuming. "During Roger's Era, there was a fleet of pirate ships called _Divinus_-it was the most feared pirate fleet on the seas, containing hundreds of small battle ships and three gigantic, highly-advanced, and well-equipped warships. It was a fleet with enough power to rival a Buster Call force-" He ignored the fact that Kidd had no idea what a Buster Call was. "_Divinus _was the pirate fleet of 'Hell Kaiser' Ante, and _Inferno_ was the mother warship.

"And if this is its 'Gate'..."

For a few minutes, it was wordless.

"But I thought that he died," Kidd broke it. "All the 'Kings' with the exception of Whitebeard are dead, aren't they?"

"I never said that," Killer answered, shaking his head. "'Golden Lion' could be anywhere, dead or alive. He broke out of Impel Down twenty years ago, and the body has yet been found, meaning no one can say for sure. 'Hell Kaiser' too... Though, if he is alive, I always suspected him to be in the New World somewhere, not here. Then again, if this is not him but merely an imposter using his name to draw out fear, we have nothing to worry about."

_And more likely than not, this is an imposter,_ Killer thought hopefully, closing his eyes behind his mask in the silence that once again followed. The reasonable notion should've smoothed him, but it didn't.

"Marc D. Ante."

Killer glanced up as Kidd whispered the name, and looked over. On the pale face, the pair of golden eyes blazed with excitement as a mischievous grin that set a rock in the masked man's chest formed.

"One of the three pirates in the world who fought on par with the King of Pirates. Heh..."

_What is he doing?_

_Don't tell me that-_

But it was already too late. "_Repel!_"

"You reckless idiot!" Killer shouted with wide eyes as the iron door indented and flew apart. "Why the hell did you do that? I said that it might not be him!"

Unsurprisingly and much to his agitation, the idiot smirked at him with confidence and nothing but childish playfulness written in his expression. "If he's the real deal, then what a better chance to test the extent of our power than this?" he argued, seeing nothing wrong. "If he's a fake, then obviously, we beat him up!"

Killer's blood boiled with rage, the air growing cold around him. _You simple-minded, piece of sh-_

Kidd grabbed his hand without warning, and ran beyond the entrance into the dark tunnel, dragging him along. "Let's go!"

"I'm going to kill you for this afterwards!" the masked man ineffectively threatened. "After all I said about-"

"Killer," the captain cut him off.

"What?" he growled.

"Have some faith in me!"

His eyebrows quirked. "That's not my point! And this isn't the first time that you've done it either! Don't randomly pick fights in alien places where we can easily be killed! We don't know what's going on here!"

By this point, it was obvious that whatever he said was going way over Kidd's head. Infuriated and ready to beat the shit out of the brainless imbecile, Killer tugged his held limb. For some reason, this grabbed Kidd's attention more than anything else.

"At least let go of my hand!" he said.

Kidd's footsteps froze, he knew that he'd made a mistake.

The wild grin immediately left the redhead's face, the dangerous light once flickering in his eyes now dimmed.

Killer's voice flew out some non-existing window, and remorse instantly filled him.

"Look," Kidd finally spoke up after a while. He lifted his head and stared straight into Killer's eyes.

The masked man flinched, holding his breath, waiting for the worst to come. _Not now..._

But what he expected out of the other's mouth didn't come. Instead, Kidd squeezed his hand and said in the most straightforward, serious and determined tone that he'd ever head him, "I _will_ become the King of Pirates."

_That's..._ Killer blinked, taken aback as they resumed down the path. _What does that have to do with anything?_

* * *

There was an eerie smell as one ventured further and further into the darkness of this mess of inter-connected sub-sea cavern. Deeper, and still deeper down, a humanoid creature wandered steadily until it came to an wall of stone, and waited patiently. Moment later, the rocks parted, creating an entrance. It stepped inside quietly, took a moment to look at the many webs around the chamber before bowing its head.

"Sloth..." A figure whispered to it.

Sloth answered nothing.

"Yes, I can sense them," the figure continued, a teeth-baring smile stretching across his face. "One, on the eastern side, high above. Two, up within the western tunnel. Three, by the waterfall. And two, descending the slope of _Inferno_."

There was a release of breath, almost resembling a slow hiss of some sort.

"Kentra, no need to wreck havoc any longer. They're in," he said, although there was obviously no third person in the room.

"She does not heard you, Master Ante," Sloth spoke.

There was shallow breathing as this information was being processed.

"No," Ante disagreed afterwards. "It's not that she doesn't hear, it's that she refuses, as do all of you." The smile stretched wider, bitter, madden, grim. "Sometimes, my servant, I think that you're the only one who has ears for anything at all. And still, the rest dwells in my lair, waiting for me to waste away."

The sin stepped forward to a wooden, dust covered table, and lay down several bags he had carried with him. Unpacking the items, he found his master's cold, inhuman eyes aiming at him, and at once, a voice in his mind commanded him to stop. He did, and waited again.

"No need," Ante explained. Up close, Sloth saw exactly what he'd expected; dry, shockingly pale skin hung the man's frame. The hair, only years ago a rich colored of chestnut brown, had whitened to the color of snow, rough and straw-like. Deep, sunken eyes with deep, sunken cheeks defined the face. The lips were practically nonexistent. In the beginning, this man had seemed barely in his thirties. Now, only so short time later, he had already aged at least fifty years. He doubt that this person could even so much as move. "This body is no longer able."

The sin nodded.

"But let's not falter. We have guests, after all."

A nightmarish grin formed on the face.

"Let it begin!"

* * *

_Kill._

They crawled.

_Kill. Kill. _

_Kill._

"Hehehe..."

_Kill!_

They headed east.

* * *

He had found _Maria_.

Thankfully, she wasn't as broken as Hiroki had thought. Overall, with the exception of the main mast and the engine controller, she seemed fine to the shipwright's eyes. Every other vital part of her were intact and well. The mast could be replaced once he gets to the surface, where he believed that there was a forest of usable wood ready for repair. The mechanical works of the controller was a harder deal, but not impossible, per se.

Right now, there were plenty to do in regards to the floorboards, rails and doors. And there was no way he could haul the ship up onto the surface without help. The best thing to do right now, he supposed, would be to fix what he could, and wait for his nakamas to find him.

_Kill._

The movement of the hammer stopped.

Hiroki gave a small frown, but carried on with his work.

_Kill._

He stopped again.

"Who's here?" he called out, setting down the tool.

_No, wait. Nobody said 'Kill.'_

_Was I thinking it?_

_Not possible. It certainly wasn't me-_

_Kill._

The man narrowed his eyes and hopped down from the ship, senses alert for whatever movement.

"Please don't be afraid to come out," he said calmly. "If I happen to be trespassing your territory, I'm sure that we can settle this in civil ways."

_Kill._

He tried one more time, a bit more weary. "Unnecessary slaughter is unnecessary, stranger." Somehow, that was supposed to help?

And they began to drop around him.

From the ceiling, leaping out of holes that he hadn't noticed before, breaking through the thick walls, pushing away dirt, they came one by one, quickly as an army of ants, rising from the ground like zombies. There were easily hundreds of them. Hiroki stepped back by their appearances, startled and confused.

_Humans?_

Yes, and no.

The stench from them overpowered his sense of smell, and it took all the manner that he had to not cover his nose. Disheveled, dirty- covered in blood, possible feces and hell-knows-what-, and wearing torn rags, they stood slouched on two legs, not a sign of sanity in their eyes as they stared at him like a pack of hungry hyenas would look at a prey. Observing more carefully, the shipwright noticed something else very unusual; some of them were wearing Jolly Rogers; not of any particular crew, in fact, the symbols varied so much that it would be ridiculous to believe them to be one crew.

_Are they even pirates?_

"...Hello," he hesitatingly greeted.

They lunged for him.

* * *

"A- Aniki! This isn't a good idea!" Chevy pleaded as Mustang walked back and forth, hauling pieces of rocks while whistling cheerfully. "Please don't start a fire here!"

"What are you talking about?" the older brother said with the uttermost optimism, digging out fire-starting gadgets from Chevy's pouch. "The soil here is excellent for burning, we can keep warm this way, and maybe the smell of smoke will lead others to us so we don't have to look for them, shouting like maniacs-" Despite the fact that he had been the only one shouting. "-Besides, I'm tired from walking- Oh? Oi, you packed instant noodles too? You're too well prepared!"

"Those are for emergencies..." the younger explained as Mustang took them out. "I said that those are for emergencies, Nii-san! What if we get stuck here for days? What will we eat then?"

The mouth-watering aroma of ramen being cooked told him that he was too late.

_And he used his ration of water to do it too..._

Declaring the situation hopeless, Chevy squat down on the ground and decided to went along.

The smell of the seasoned soup made his stomach growl as well, but just because he'd already had breakfast, and unlike Mustang, he knew when not to waste valuable resources, the teen kept strong and held back drools as his older brother stirred the bowl of noodles.

"Come on, you stubborn brat," the man taunted, waving the bowl in front of his face. "This is like camping!"

"No," he replied firmly.

"C'mon, you forgot camping?" Mustang asked with a big frown. "You know the rules; we eat everything we bring the first night, then we go hungry the next day, then on the third day, we start hunting for food and have rock soup every night until we get sick of it." Then he thought carefully about their usual plan. "Well, Camry was usually with us to do the cooking..."

A nearby vine slowly unfurled towards them. It inconspicuously nudged the bowl of ramen in Mustang's hand.

"This isn't the place to think about camping, Aniki!" Chevy reasoned. "Who knows what land we're on? It's safe back in the forest at home, but this... This is an underwater cave- an underwater cave with no water even though it should have! Besides, we're going to be lucky to even find a beetle for a dish of bug stir-fry!"

"Bugs," the older made a face of disgust. "You know how I feel about eating bugs!"

"They don't taste bad the way Camry-niisan made them," the teen defended. "And you eat what you have."

The nudge was more noticeable this time. Mustang looked down, and the plant froze.

"What's wrong?" his brother asked.

He pointed at the vine. "This thing wasn't here before, was it?"

"...No," Chevy answered.

The rockabilly man looked at it again, and scooted two good feet around fire away from the thing.

"It's just a plant."

"I don't trust strange plants that move," Mustang grumbled, eying the vine with precaution.

Chevy stared at him, and sighed. "Really..." he muttered.

"Well," the man finally said, taking out a pair of chopsticks and opened the lid to his ramen bowl. "Itadaki-masu."

_Whoosh!_

Chevy jumped as something shot past his face, knocking the bowl out of its owner's hands, who cried with rage as the noodle spilled onto the dirt ground.

"What the hell?" Mustang snarled. "My ramen!"

The younger could only stare with wide, frightened eyes at the thin vine in front of his nose; it had narrowly missed him.

"Chachingchingching." Sounding unbelievably enough, it was the laughter of a man. The brothers stilled and listened as the weird laugh rang and echoed through the tunnel. "Chachingchingching! Chachingchingching! Ivy, Ivy, why so discourteous?"

From their left, someone emerged from the shadows. Chevy found himself staring into the face of a clean-shaven, white-haired man dressed in a pure golden outfit with rings and heavy necklaces accessorizing him. The man smirked down at them with mild interest. "This is it?" the teen heard him muttered, disappointment lacing in his voice.

The visible vines viciously flickered and withdrew as another person emerged from their right.

"Me? Discourteous?" It was a woman this time, her voice haughty and cold. "Barging onto our territory, and they have the audacity to _enjoy_ lunch in front of me while I rot away here? They've got some nerves."

Chevy stared at her with gaping mouth, a blush flushing his cheeks, and for good reasons; while she was hardly a beauty of high caliber, she was also hardly covered. In fact, her body had not on a single artifact of clothing. Instead, thin vines coiled and snaked around her, making up her shoes and concealing her woman parts. Familiar-looking green leaves sprouted plentifully on the vines, giving her pale skin a tint. Her hair was also a deep shade of green. Everything of her was of that color except a pair of snake like yellow eyes, gazing down at them with unexplained hatred.

"Who are you people?" Mustang demanded, placing a hand on his bazooka.

"That's a nice weapon you got there," the man commented.

"Don't compliment the enemy, Larcen!" the woman, called Ivy, said.

"'Don't compliment the enemy'?" Larcen echoed mockingly. "Why? Because you've got nothing worthy of a good word yourself?"

She hissed at him. "You want to die?"

He answered back with a madden grin.

"Wait." The instance he'd spoken, Chevy regretted it, but he bit back his fear and continued anyway. "Since you two are from here, what is this place?"

A high-pitch laughter suddenly came out of Ivy's throat, and Chevy felt himself blush again- this time with embarrassment. Beside him, Mustang growled, more than ready to fire at one of the two strangers.

"He wants to know where they are!" she screamed. "Ahahaha!"

Larcen, his face relaxing from the grin from before, answered them. "You're the pirates, aren't you? Chachingchingching, welcome to Hell!"

* * *

By then, Chuckie knew better than to complain, because complaining wasn't having an effect. Now, he just wanted to know where they were, how they find the rest of the crew, and how to get back to Maria so he could go potty; he _really_ had to pee, and he didn't think he could hold for another minute. Never more did he wish that he was younger. Younger kids could pee in their pants without getting yelled at.

At his side, Ren had stopped complaining about her stomachache as well, and slid along willfully, looking about every once in a while.

Camry walked in front of them, gazing at their surroundings with anxiety as time passed on. He couldn't tell how long they had been walking; this place was like a maze. Why, he could've sworn that they already came by that piece of rock three times.

"Are we lost?" the boy asked.

He stopped. "I don't know," he answered. "Maybe we are. It's not like we know where we're heading for in the first place."

"Woo?" Ren abruptly stilled.

Chuckie looked at her as she began sniffing the air. "What's it?"

She lifted up her tail and pointed behind them.

"Someone's coming?"

_Hiissssssssss. Haisssssssssssssssss. _The hiss echoed around the wet walls.

_A snake?_ the boy thought nervously. Ren was slowly slithering away, whimpering.

"...Nii-san?"

Camry stepped in front of him, boomerangs out. "Hold it."

_Whoosh! Haisssssssssss!_ Chuckie found himself falling on his behind as the wall of scaled gray flesh came like lightning for them, shooting past them and returning. His brother, too, stumbled back. The creature- and a snake it was indeed- coiled, its body layering as it surrounded them. Quite frankly, none of the three were screaming in fear, or even making a sound, too shocked by the monstrous size of the beast. It wasn't until they looked into the snake's face did they say anything.

Ren could see next to nothing in such bad light, but from smell alone, she'd realized that this fellow cold-blood was nowhere near her on the family tree. Far enough to eat her and still not be considered cannibalism, in fact.

All Chuckie could do was pale as he stared at the incredibly long and sharp fang as it opened its mouth, terrified.

All Camry saw was the blue-black color in the inside of its mouth, and paled as well, but for a whole another reason.

His boomerangs fell out of his hands. His shoulders slacked with fear and disbelief.

_This is bad._

"Chuckie, Ren, when I tell you to, run away as fast as you can," he whispered to his younger brother, who shook out of his fright at the sound of his voice.

"W- Why? What about you? What is that thing? It's too big to be a normal snake!"

Camry ground his teeth, and gulped as the head loomed closer to them. The long wall of flesh shifted as the creature examined them from all angles, the forked tongue darting out, tasting their scent.

"This is a Black Mamba," he told the boy. "An oversized one."

"A Black..." A flash of information of the sub-species went through Chuckie's head, numbing his body and mind. "Aren't they... Aren't they venomous? And- And fast? Bu- But they don't eat people to they, just- just rats? Aren't rats what snakes eat?" His voice was getting smaller and smaller. The circle they were in suddenly got tighter and tighter. Camry still did not respond. "Nii-san?"

"To your right," the older said instead. "There is only one layer. You and Ren can climb over it."

The boy froze, not daring to look to his right.

"I'm going to count to three," he went on. "On three, you run for it."

The forked tongue was so close that they could smell the foul stench.

"One," Camry counted.

Chuckie widened his eyes. "Wait, but-"

"Two." He'd picked up his boomerangs. The Mamba directed its interest to him, its beady black eyes reflecting him.

"I'm not-"

"Three!"

Ready or not, the boy took off just as Camry swung, scrambling over the snake.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" he wailed, deafening himself as he sped down the tunnel as fast as his legs could take him, afraid of hearing his brother scream in pain if his own scream couldn't cover it.

Back to the giant serpent, the Mohawk man triumphantly grinned as the creature hissed angrily above him, pushing down at him while its body slithered rapidly in circles, furious.

"Don't be greedy," he mocked as the two fangs which he had caught in one of his boomerangs attempted to pull themselves out. "One rat per snake is sufficient."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the boy slowed, tired and burned out from running. Looking around he found out that he had stopped in the dead middle of six crossing tunnel ways, and every single one of them looked exactly the same.

Chuckie bursted into tears.

He couldn't help it. His legs ached, his lungs burned from breathing so hard, he had to pee really bad all morning, his brother was getting eaten by a giant, poisonous snake, and now he was standing in the middle of some forsaken tunnel system, lost and getting hungry. And worst of all, he had to be nine years old! He could decided whether it was better to be older or younger by this point, wishing that he had to power to change to both.

Somewhere, Bonney sneezed.

"Ren?" he whimpered, calling for his last comfort, expecting her to answer. His sniffing stopped when she didn't. "Ren?"

_Wasn't she supposed to follow me?_

"REN!"

Still nothing.

_She didn't follow me!_

He slowly crept to one of the tunnels. Should he head back? Or better yet, which one of these did he came out of?

"NII-SAN! WHERE ARE YOU?"

If there were crickets in here, he would've heard them chirp.

Resorting to his last tactic, he slowly covered his eyes and stood in the center of the crossway. "Eenie meenie, minie, mo..."

Another ten minutes later, he found himself wandering down a new path, just as web-covered and dark looking as any other, desperately wishing that he'd run into someone, _anyone_. He did not need to wish any longer.

A yellow light up ahead caught his eyes, stopping him in his aimless track. A twinge of relief born within him, and the boy quickly jogged towards that direction. He found himself standing in front of a half opened chamber, and he stepped into the room, looking around in wonder.

It consisted of a single King-size bed covered with luxurious sheets and draped with silk curtains, an open closet exposing a collection of some of the most beautifully tailored clothes that Chuckie had ever lay his eyes on, and here and there, candles stands stood around, giving the room an ancient, forbidden aura as it released a sweet scent that he recognized as flower nectar. In front of the room, taking up a large portion of the wall was a full length round mirror with a golden frame of prodigious designs. Two tables stood on either side, on top of them were perfume bottles, mascara, lipsticks and other make ups. Around the mirror, strange pictures and paintings of an eccentric-looking person hung. With the exception of the "artworks", the room was befitting for a royalty.

_Creepy caves, spider webs and a giant poisonous snake... What's a place like this doing here?_

He was just about to speak up when a hum rang through the room all of a sudden, and immediately dove for the only hiding place he could find- under the bed.

"_High, flying, adored, you are the instant king,_" an alto sang as two feet glided in, positioning in front of the mirror.  
_"Rich, beautiful reflection, the world lives for thee;_  
_Standing strong and proud, you are me._  
_Nothing is impossible, I have it all..."_

Chuckie's eyes twitched with irritation and bewilderment as the person sang on; the conceited lyrics baffled him. _You'd think that he's in love with himself or something._

He daringly poked his head from under the mattress, trying to get a look, and blinked, mouth hung gaping at the sight he saw.

A man- the same man from all those pictures and portraits on the wall- danced gleefully in front of the mirror, admiring himself as he applied on make-ups with all the manner of a woman. He wore a handsome, tight-bodied white suit and a fur robe. His black hair was professionally done in an aristocratic hairdo, slicked back, not a single strand out of place.

The boy knew that Boss put on lipsticks and nail polish, however, that was the full extent of Kidd's craziness. This broke the meter and then some.

Worst of all, he was making kissy-faces at his reflection, striking poses.

_This guy,_ Chuckie thought, aghast and wordless, still staring up at the man, _is in love with himself. That's gross._

_...Is he an Okama? Maybe he is._

"Narcisse, Narcisse," said man began loudly, clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. "Live, love, laugh... Let them sorry bastards rot in their little corners, driving themselves to bitterness! 'Hell Kaiser' or God from Heaven, I am the only true king! Beauty, youth, there will never be another like me! Vuvuvuvuvu!" He abruptly stopped. "...Hm?"

_Huh?_ The boy wondered what was going on.

"Mirror mirror," Narcisse began chanting, a strange smile playing on his dark lips. "Shall we kill tonight?"

And he turned around, looking straight at the intruder's Afro-sporting head.

* * *

Killer's hand felt warm in his, the fingers were slender, and the skin soft as if the other man had never done a day of work in his life. It was smaller compared to Kidd's, and a perfect fit as he was able to hold it so. It gave him a sense of reassurance, resting unresistingly in his grip, even though the air between them was doing to exact opposite for his nerves. Either way, the former subject had been dropped, more or less.

There were more than one time where he'd wanted to say something, only to find his mind blank as they walked, abandoned by confidence.

"Where are we going?" Killer finally saw it fit to speak after some while, catching his attention.

Kidd grimaced. "I don't know," he admitted. "I thought that I do."

Leaving the tension from before, it grew easier to talk.

"We can't blindly wander around here until we run into somebody," the masked man pointed out. "I don't think anyone lives here. How long do you think you'll take to set?"

"I can't tell," he said with a snort. "I told you, it's not a conscious thing."

Behind his mask, Killer merely frowned.

"You..." he began, looking at the redhead. "You aren't really planning to look for the 'Hell Kaiser', are you?"

"We'll leave once I set," was all he answered in return.

And that was the end to the little talk.

The wet cavern wall, the silence, and Kidd own uneasiness seemed to have increased the sound of their footsteps tenfold. For a moment, a trickle of doubt played in his mind, and he asked himself what he was really doing, and to make it all more confusion, one question applied to so many things.

What was he doing now? Looking for someone to fight? Looking for a way out, and possibly to the island ground? What about finding the bastard who dared to go so far as impersonating a "King"? Or even, the real "King" himself?

The question turned its ugly head to the other subject that had been plaguing him even longer than the last; Killer. From the beginning, he had wanted the man's death, or at the very least, inflict some sort of pain on him for being an utter bastard. Then, he'd desired acknowledgment, for the simple word "Captain" to come out of Killer's lips. Now, even the happening of that wouldn't be able to satisfy him.

_And I went as far as asking him to sleep with me.._Kidd lowered his head darkly, thinking back to days before. _Even though I still have no idea what the _hell_ I'm doing._

A warm hand touched his forehead without warning, and he flinched, looking up.

"You're not sick are you? You look flushed," Killer said, pulling back.

"I'm not," he grumbled.

"Good, because it'll be troublesome even if we're back on the ship; we don't have any medi-"

"Ah...Ahhhh..."

They both froze at the sound.

Kidd looked down ahead where it had came from, narrowing his eyes. "...What the hell was that?"

"Ah, fuck..." It was a man moaning, the voice raw and deep. Immediately, an almost predatory hiss followed it with the sound of skins slapping against one another. He sensed Killer stepping up beside him, unsure whether to lead forward and go on, or drag them away from what obviously was two people having sex.

Just as the masked man decided to chose the latter route and pulled him back, the tone of the moans changed. It started to get slower, softer, even to the point of inaudibility.

Then, it exploded into a painful, ear-piercing scream, devoid of any pleasure.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! NO! SPARE ME! DON'T DO THIS!" whoever it was cried. "NO! CYRINE-SAMA! DON'T KILL ME! HAVE MERCY-" Gagging sound followed, the protests stopped, and soon after that, a low, seductive laughter of a woman as he was obviously being choked by her.

Kidd felt bile rising up in his throat as sounds of skin being ripped open echoed around the cave, and the sickening noise of her tearing something out of his inside and devouring it.

"...'Cyrine'?" Killer's sudden fearful whisper in the mist of this lunacy averted his attention. "This is bad... We have to get away, now!"

_Who?_ Kidd thought as he found himself being tugged.

But they were too slow.

In distance, the wall slid open, revealing a room lit by candles. A figure stood by the entrance way, the curvy body leaning against the stone lazily. They both turned back away, staring at the woman.

She had a head of crimson red curls, two large, emerald-colored, wild eyes that were staring straight back at them, a mouth covered in blood from her kill, and a little red dress hanging scandalously on her body. Still with the disheveled appearance, to any normal man, she looked as alluring as alluring could get, erotic and exotic. She caught them in her sight, her lips curving up into a smirk, half drunk-like and half insane, and beckoned them with a wave of her hand.

"Come closer," they heard her softly mutter.

Normal men would flock to her at the command. Kidd turned to Killer instead.

"No," the blond said shakily, squeezing his hand.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"Cyrine, also called 'The Red Lady'," Killer answered, backing away further, almost as if about to break into a run. "One of the Ante's crew, one of the commanders."

Kidd looked at her. "...So the 'Hell Kaiser'_ is_ here?"

"Come closer," she beckoned again, her twinkling eyes sending chills up his spine as she backed into her room.

"Like the hell will we-" He snarled, and stopped as Killer suddenly took a step forward. "Oi, what are you doing!"

It wasn't until then that he noticed the short, heavy breathing from the masked man, and just how much Killer was trembling. He stepped forward again, the slowness of his movement spelling out his unwillingness, yet almost as if he was being hypnotized.

"Come to me..." Cyrine tempted.

"Killer!" he shouted. "Snap out of it!"

"...I can't... I can't breath..."

_What?_

Rage built up in him as he glared at her while trying his best to hold back his first mate, knowing that she was the cause behind this. The woman regarded him back with disinterest, like he didn't even exist, before returning to her objective.

_She wants Killer!_ he howled, realizing, feeling his blood boil with absolute anger. A beast-like snarl found itself out of his throat. His hands clenching into fists as murder called out to him. _I'll kill her!_


	43. Diamond and Ivy

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _The Fluffy One, bafgjy _(...You still there? O_O),_ doriansburial, quiveringflame, go kidd, Dogychou _(Who unintentionally reviewed on another site XD)_, anonymous_, and _kiku90_ for reviewing!

Damn it, I'm sorry! *Is ashamed of herself* I will not make any excuse this time, however; I've made too many of them...Anyway, what I had planned for this chapter got cut in half. The length of the materials once again exceeded my expectation. I would make a promise to update faster, but I know that I'll break it again. Ugh.

I don't know why, but even though this arc was supposed to be humorless, humor cease to leave. Maybe it's just the nature of an One Piece fic, or maybe it's just me not being able to write without some sort of kiddy drama? Very strange.

No Kidd or Killer this chapter. Sorry, next one.

* * *

Chuckie was paralyzed.

His eyes were as big as saucer plates, nearly popping out of their sockets as the bizarre-looking man stared at him with his bizarre-looking smile. Blood drained from his face, and the thought of retreating his head back under the bed crossed his mind, but even if he could move, it wouldn't be much of a help.

"Why, hello there," Narcisse cooed gently, expression unchanged. "What have we got here? It not every day that I find a little boy under my bed. Why don't you come out? We'll have a nice talk."

_...He sounds almost normal,_ the boy thought, still frozen. _Wait... Is this an act, or was before an act? Didn't he say something about killing someone?_

"Come on," the man said, getting a little impatient. "I do not fancy being stared at by some stranger from under my own bed. Do get up."

"Uh..." he managed to choke out, gulping as he forced himself to operate his limbs, successfully pushing himself out after a moment.

The child stood as far from the strange being as space would permit with hands tucked behind his back as if he'd been caught with them in a cookie jar. Large eyes gazed upwards, giving him a positively innocent look; it was his special puppy-eyes look, and normally, it worked on mid-age women and teenage girls. Hopefully, it would work on okamas too.

"And what business do you have in my room, youngster?" Narcisse asked, leaning back to take a full look at his intruder.

Chuckie blurted out the only thing that came to mind at the time. "Do you have a bathroom?"

Silence ensued.

"...Certainly..." A long pale finger with sharp red nail pointed toward an inconspicuous door to their left.

"...Thank you..." He said with equal delay, and waddled towards the pointed door, tense and fearful. What was going on exactly? Was the okama going to kill him? Or more importantly, who was this man?

It seemed like some sort of a cliché children's bedtime story to him, the one where a kid walks into a witch's house, got captured by the witch and was force-fed food so the child would get plump and fat and ready to be baked into human quiche. He remembered that story. Everyday, the witch would feel the boy's finger to see if he'd gained weight-

Hold on a second, Chuckie frowned to himself as he zipped his pants and washed his hands, remembering the title. Wasn't that Hansel and Gretel he was thinking of? His eyebrows wrinkled in concentration, sensing something off here.

_But there are two kids in the story; Hansel, who got locked up to be eaten, and Gretel who got enslaved and ended up pushing the witch into the oven in the end._

_And if I'm going to be locked up..._Color drained from his face as he realized the missing element in his story.

"There won't be anyone around to push that okama into the oven for me!" he cried out loud. "Damn you, Ren! Where are you?"

"What is this about an oven in my chamber?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" he screamed with fright and spun around, backing into the wall of the bathroom. Such effort rendered useless as the man took a step forward, closing the distance between them.

"No need," he whispered sadistically, shadows darkening his angular face. "There is no need to be frightened of me."

Chuckie bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming again, shivering as he tried to press himself as up against the wall as much as he could, wishing that he could disappear into it.

Narcisse arched an amused eyebrow at this, and smirked.

"Vuvuvuvu! Let me ask you a question, then," he said, stopping his advance, and smoothed his perfectly styled, slick black hair. "We'll see if you can answer this correctly."

Still with eyes like saucer plates, Chuckie said in a trembling voice. "Wh- What?"

Narcisse's smirk was beyond wide by this point. He bowed lower, bringing his make-up-caked face at the boy's level. "Easy...Who is the most beautiful person in the world?"

"...Uh..." He frowned in confusion, dumbstruck. "Huh?"

_I thought that it's only evil queens who asks that question. _He thought it over. _Then again, he _is _a 'queen'... Wrong fairy tale, perhaps?_

The smirk was beginning to flatten, the man obviously getting displeased. "Um... I think..." The boy searched his mind, trying to think of the appropriate answer to give to the weirdo who was invading his personal space; the smell of minty breath was clogging his breathing air by this point. "Wait-"

The man stood back, and suddenly held up one finger. "Strike one."

Annoyance bubbled at the interruption, and the fear subside as the rashness of his childishness overtook him. "Hold on a second, that's not fair! I didn't get the question-"

"Strike two!" Narcisse announced, a dark expression morphing on his face.

"...Your stepdaughter?"

A vein popped on his forehead, earning an "eep" sound from the boy.

"For the last time..." He raised up a leg.

_BOOM!_ The wall behind Chuckie cracked and fractured just as he dodged the kick, and then exploded into pieces. "I DON'T HAVE ONE!"

* * *

"H- Hell?"

A drop of sweat trickled from Chevy's forehead, lining his clenched, tense jawbone as him and Mustang furrowed their eyebrows. The two deviant strangers still towered over them, no longer paying attention to one another, but instead gazed down at the two supposed intruders. Their eyes unnerved him.

The two brothers shot each other glances, not knowing what to do.

Mustang sucked in a deep breath and got onto his feet with determination, seeing the uncomfortable silence. He grudgingly put away his bazooka before clearing his throat. They lifted their heads, as if they had been waiting. From the ground, Chevy could see twin smirks slowly forming on their face, as if his brother was some object of entertainment.

"We're sorry if we wrongfully trespassed," the rockabilly man began in his most polite voice. "But, you see, we fell in here due to a storm from outside and our nakamas some hours ago. Thus, we have been looking for them, and happened to accidentally wander onto your property."

He paused, waiting to see if they would say anything.

Larcen, the blond man, kept his previous expression, while Ivy drew back her lips into a cold sneer. Neither of them moved from their poses. However, the teen on the ground shifted away from the woman as vines began uncoiling around her body, unnaturally alive. His eyes darted nervously at them, sensing that this was _really_ not going their way even as Mustang resumed with his explanation and diplomatic negociation.

"...And we would really appreciate it if you can give us some directions," his brother finished.

_Aniki, I think we better try to get away from them, not ask them for help_, he thought, not daring to say it out loud.

Ivy cocked her head to the right. "We know all that, you useless piece of shit," she glowered as Mustang frowned with discontent. He was not used to being spoken to this way, and especially not when he talked with such manner. Was it because of his rudeness before, he pondered, starting to feel as if he should apologize. "We are ordered to find you out. Why do you think we bother with you in the first place?"

"I'm still not impressed," Larcen commented, puzzling Mustang even further. "I expected something more."

"Shut up, you bastard!" the woman snapped. "When was the last time you were impressed?"

He shrugged. "Hmph."

"Why do you call this 'Hell'?" Chevy asked, gathering up his things and standing up as well, weary laced in his voice. "We're alive, aren't we?"

"Yes..." Ivy answered, her voice trailing off into a hiss as she turned her deadly gaze to him. Interests flickered in them. "Alive. Hehe..."

He backed a step as he saw her move. A chill rattled his spine, and his body involuntarily shivered in response as he paled in fear. It became clear to him of what was going on here.

She lifted up a finger and pointed directly at him, a demented smile on her face. "I want that one. He's better."

And Chevy broke into a run.

* * *

Mustang snapped his head in surprise as his younger brother took off down the tunnel without warning. His heart raced with even more panic as the woman followed him with equally speedy footstep.

"Oi! Where the hell are you going?" he yelled after Chevy. "You'll get lost and I'll have to find you ag-"

He stopped.

The coldness and numbness came just milliseconds before the pain, but that one single moment was so stretched out that he was able to experience every aspect of the icy blade that had impaled him from the back. He saw red gushing out of his wound, and tasted the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth. Then the pain hit him at full force as Larcen yanked his sword out. The man smirked as he steered himself around.

A sword, so beautifully designed with a blood-covered blade, flashed back at him. A blade of pure diamond. Its sharp edges glistened with majesty in the dimness of the tunnel.

It took only milliseconds more for him to react. He snatched his bazooka out and immediately fired. _Boom!_

The bomb split apart and blew up harmlessly on either side of Larcen.

"What?" Mustang exclaimed, shocked. _He moved too fast! _"What the fuck did you do!"

"Chachingchingching!" the blond man laughed, holding up his weapon, proudly showing it off before saying in a lower voice, "The 'Diamond Akira', a blade worthy of an entire kingdom! It'll cut through anything, stop and break against nothing! Watch!"

He lifted up the sword and gently tapped the point against the wall of rocks, leaving a small scratch as he lowered it. The scratch fractured outward, the rocks rumbled, pebbles falling out, and Mustang could only watch in bewilderment as the crack traveled further and further away until the end of the streak escaped from his sight.

_What power!_

"And it can very easily shred human flesh into pieces!"

He jumped out of the way just in time, backing against the wall as the ground cracked and split open.

Perhaps this wasn't the best time to try to be reasonable, but he knew that fighting would end even worse.

"Oi! What have I ever done to you!" Mustang demanded, dodging another blow. Behind him, rocks caved in and tumbled down a slope, heading for him.

"Chachingchingching, you took a stab, and yet you're still able to run with so much energy," Larcen praised, his eyes blazing. "Ivy!" he called to his comrade, even though she wasn't here. His target yelped in surprise as he madly swung again. "I hope you're having fun! Chachingchingchingching! It's always this way with her!" _Is he talking to me now?_ Mustang bit down a wince as his wound throbbed from the constant motion.

"It's always like that with her!" He shouted, laughing deliriously. "Every single time! She thought that she picked the better one, and every single time, she came bitching to me because she picked wrong! It doesn't matter which one she picks, because I'll always have more fun!"

"What the hell are you going on about!" the rockabilly man snarled.

_BOOM! Crack!_ More rocks broke apart. By now, each swing seemed almost like child-play to Larcen.

"I'm really tempted to keep you alive just to make her mad! Do you want to live? Why, of course you'll want to!" he went on, and then contradicted his words by attacking the other once again. "Say, you're a pirate! Where's your ship? Chachingchingching!" His teeth bared.

_I've had enough!_ "Take this!" Mustang screamed, firing his bazooka.

The enemy suddenly vanished. "...Where the hell did he-"

_Stab._

"There are two beautiful things in the world: paper and gold." Larcen's voice whispered beside his ear.

_He- He moved too fast..._ he realized, blood spewing out of his mouth as the diamond sword withdrew from his abdomen again._ He's too strong!_

"With money, anything is possible."

He heard him stepping away, licking the blood off the sword.

"With money, you can have whatever you desire. You can buy power, and fame! With money, you can rule the world! Do you have money?"

"I don't-" Mustang spat out blood, his hand tightening around the trigger of his bazooka. "I don't have any." He never did, never cared.

"Really?" Larcen mused with mocking interest.

"What the point of it?" the wounded man scoffed, not seeing where this was heading. "I don't see anything good out of being rich."

The other tsked his tongue and shook his head in grievance. "No money huh? That's a disappointment. You're a pirate, yet you didn't plunder for it? You didn't kill for it? Usually, they do! Avarice is but human nature after all! Usually, when they come to us, they were more than willing to give up their gold and beri for their lives! One hundred million beri for a chance of living, that's not a horrible deal at all! Chachingchingching!"

"...One _hundred million beri_?" Mustang gasped, dumbstruck by the outrageous amount. "You're crazy! Who the hell can pay that?"

He got an incredulous raise of an eye. "That's a lot? That's cheap! Nothing, even! I'm being exceedingly generous! You should be grateful that you got such an offer!" More tsking. "You must've never experienced the joy of surrounded by riches! You must've never suffered the pain of losing everything you have! Can't you see the beauty of gold? The glory in possession it? Chachingching, I get it! You're one of those people, those who've never taste the majesty of holding all that power! I have!" Then, his face darkened. "And I_ would_ have held on to it too..."

_I got to get away from this lunatic!_ He decided, knowing why Chevy ran. Clutching his bleeding, swollen stomach, he coughed out the remaining blood and held a firm grasp on his bazooka.

"One Piece..." Larcen muttered, his eyes glistening as if he was seeing something not really there. "If we only had taken it that day...Chachingchingching!" he laughed bitterly, raising up his sword and pointed it Mustang, who froze.

"Pay your life with your life."

_I'm out of here!_

He ran like the wind down the tunnel, firing shots every once in a while behind him, aiming at the ceiling to break off rocks, trying every possible way to slow down his chaser. If he could lose this man, he'd be safe, and he could proceed finding the rest of the crew and get them away from this place as quickly as they could.

_BOOM! BOOM!_ He heard rocks raining down behind him, yet dared not to turn and see how far ahead he was. His feet took him around a corner, water splashing around his shoes when he stepped into a puddle, and kept going.

A bright light caught his eyes.

"What is this?" he murmured, and stopped. Nothing but silence followed the screeching of his heels. "I must have lost him," he concluded with relief, seeing no sign of Larcen anywhere.

Cautiously, he stepped toward the bright crack within the wall and touched the edge of the stone, peeking into what seemed to be a hidden room. To his surprise, the stone wall gave away, sliding wide open, and what he saw shocked him beyond anything that had shocked him in his life. He jumped back, jaw dropped to the door and eyes bulged, nearly popping out of their sockets. "What the..." he stuttered. "What the hell is _this_? This... This is... I've never seen..."

Though was only one candle stand within what was an area large enough to be a ball room, that single lit candle was enough.

Golden coins shone. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and just about every color gemstone existing glimmered, seductively sparkling in what little light there was. Gold and silver bars piled like mountains on one side of the room, while nuggets of various precious metals mixed with beri bills on another.

Mustang felt his mouth watering at the immense wealth, a giddy feeling rising up within him, and drool pouring out from the excess gather of saliva. His eyes had transformed into strange signs that resembled much like the beri symbol. He stood and couldn't move for some good minutes.

He smacked himself out of the daze and violently shook his head.

"Calm down!" he scolded. "It's only money!"

_But so much of it!_ A greedy voice in his head argued back, making grabby paw gestures as he stared, getting entranced once again. _There are easily billions of beri here!_ It didn't ask where the riches all came from, or whom it belonged to. _We struck jackpot!_

_Smack!_

He pointed an imperative finger at himself. "You will calm down right now, or I'll rip your toes off!" It was pretty useless to threaten his own person, but he saw nothing else to do. Gazing at the monstrous wealth in this chamber, it was hard to not desire to take something, especially for him.

A part of him shrank back into darkness, reminiscing. To say that money had never been a number one objective in his life would be a lie. Even though he'd never wished for the extreme, or had done anything out of line to obtain money, it was alway there haunting him like a ghost. How could he not? Who took care of the family when his parents passed away? Of course, there had been times. Luckily, they'd grew up in a kind, compassionate place with kind, compassionate people who spared some of what they had, and he'd thank the town people everyday from the bottom of his heart-

_Smack!_

"Snap out of it!" he told himself, sniffing as a small twinge of homesickness damped his eyes, recalling everything from Campbell Float, but tears just burst out. "Damn it! I miss everyone! I miss doing community service at the Senior center! I miss getting kicked out of the Children's Daycare even though I don't know why they always kick me out! I miss getting free food at Anna-san's place! I miss cashing Camry's weekly paycheck even though I wasn't not suppose to! I miss that bank teller! I miss fighting pirates even though I'm one myself now! Waaaaaah!"

_Dad first! Laboon! We've got to find that man, remember!_

"This is not the time to dwell on the past," he said a moment later with new determination, wiping away his manly tears dramatically. But as soon as the heartbreaking memories faded, the gold captured his mind again, and he gulped.

"Well..." he muttered as two sides of him struggled, trying to tear his eyes away. Yet, everywhere he looked, money, and only more money, filled his vision. "There is so much... If I just take a couple... That's still stealing._"_

He scanned around once, then twice, then trice.

"Just a couple. I won't even spend it," he told himself, coughing a little. "I'll just set it somewhere in the ship for decorations or something..." Right. "It's for decorations!" he argued with some unknown presence.

Sure.

He approached the closest miniature mountain, and glanced around one more time, his hand hovering over a ring.

_I... Shouldn't take it._ The hand moved away further. Sweat ran down his chin. _Maybe I just want to hold it. If I hold it, then it'd go away. _It loomed closer. _But if I hold it, I would want to keep it, and I can't._ Further._ Just for five seconds._ Closer. _Maybe ten seconds, or twenty, or an hour?_

It went on like this for some times until his hand was doing an rhythmic movement, going back and forth.

And he gave in.

The effect was instant.

A white flash zoomed by him, the ground split apart and the gold exploded, flying, pouring down on him like hail. Mustang jumped, and shield his face with his arms, but the way that the heavy metal fell on his wounded, unprotected body did him no good. He crouched and ran just as a wave washed over a part of the floor by some continuing explosions.

"You're quite amusing, chachingchingching!" a familiar voice crowed.

_Shit! He followed me!_

Indeed, Larcen stood calmly by the doorway, inconspicuous in the shadow. He whirled his diamond blade one more time before holding it down, stepping out.

"Welcome to my lair!" he declared, spreading his arms apart. "I see that you're enticed with my fortune, as you have so care-freely robbed a piece of it!"

The rockabilly man immediately threw down the ring in his hand, having forgotten that he had that. "I didn't mean it!" he reasoned, reaching for his bazooka.

"Sure, sure..." Larcen taunted. "That's what they all say! But you took it." He twirled his sword's handle, repositioning the hilt in his hand. "Let me show you what happened to thieves where I came from. If you steal food, they cut off you little finger. If you steal a furniture, they cut off you middle and index fingers. If you steal a livestock, they cut off your legs. If you steal another one's love, they gouge out your eyes. If you steal information, they cut off your ears. And if you steal another man's wealth..."

Mustang gasped and began to move as the other man leaped and lunged for him, sword out in full swing.

He didn't get far. A pain sliced through his right arm. Coins showered harshly on him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" he screamed, lurching forward.

That same arm and his bazooka didn't follow as he fell on the floor, his left hand gripping the stump. Agony rocked his entire mind and being. Blood oozed out like river.

"Damn it," Larcen cursed lightheartedly, his face a macabre grin as he regarded the useless limb distance away from his actual victim. "I missed the neck!"

* * *

It wasn't far along the run that the vines soon caught up with him. They shot past him with lightning speed, and likes whips, flickered, brushing his skin and bruising him. Their movement stopped finally as they completed their formations of a crisscross fence that blocked his path. He stopped, huffing and out of breath.

"Don't think that you can escape me!"

_Wham!_

One by one, the vines slammed against the rocky walls, breaking apart pebbles.

_Did I run far enough?_ The teen thought, closing his eyes, gulping in air.

A howl of rage answered his question. He opened his eyes just in time to see all the vines stop moving, and grinned to himself. "Got her," he muttered, turning around, relieved and rather proud of himself.

"You little bastard!"

The woman shifted and thrashed against her confinement that was made of thin strings and hooks. She was twisted, dangling in midair. Her vines, once frozen, now began to get entangled with the strings as she fought against them. It was only a newly sketched trap that he'd came up with days ago, but worked surprisingly well.

_What should I do with her then? Leaver her there?_ She'd kill him, that was for sure._ I better run while I still can._

"Aniki!" he called, hurrying past her and heading back to where he'd came from, worrying about Mustang's safety.

_Riiiiip!_

"DIE!"

_BOOM!_

The ground behind him exploded, knocking Chevy off his feet. He stumbled forward with shocked eyes at the now freed woman, and then felt something snaking around his waist and lifting him up. _Shit!_

"Annoying little brat!" Ivy snarled, tearing the last of the thin strings from her being, and slammed her victim against a wall. His bones throbbed at the sudden pain, and he screamed. "I'll make you pay for that!"

_Damn it!_ Chevy cursed as blood trickled from the corner of his lips, reaching for a dagger inside his pouch. He cut in half the vine and attempted to run.

Another one shot through his left shoulder, pinning him against the wall and knocking his blade out of his hand. He screamed as the plant penetrated his flesh.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? You're not allow to leave!" she shrieked.

"Let me go," he said weakly, wrapping a hand around the vine. "Why are you doing this? Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Ivy hissed. Her eyes shot open maddeningly. "Who am_ I_? HA! WHY SHOULD I LET YOU GO FREE? WHY SHOULD YOU SAIL WHILE I'M BOUND TO HERE? WHY SHOULD YOU BE ALLOWED TO LIVE WHILE I WHITHER AWAY? WHO AM I? YOU ASK ME WHO I AM! YOU KNOW NOTHING! NOTHING!"

_...What is she blabbing about? She's insane!_

Chevy squirmed and gripped the vine tighter.

"You will pay! You will suffer for that! HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME!"

"But I didn't mock you!" he protested, confused and scared as she began towering over him. "I only want to save my brother!"

He watched with disbelief as her feet dug into the ground, as her skin started to become a sickly shade of green. This was getting to become some sort of nightmare to him. Now, it wasn't just who was she, but _what_ was she.

"You mock me," she hissed in mid-transform. "By walking free. You're a young boy, aren't you? Young, happy... You're pirate too, isn't that right?" Her murderous glare suddenly changed into a nasty sneer. "Heh...AHAHAHA! YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD!" _What?_ The expression changed right back. "Why should you when I don't? You don't deserver it! Your mere existence is an insult to me! You will suffer, _suffer_!"

This was horrifying and ridiculous to him at the same time. What was he even getting killed for? What was she talking about? What did he have that she wanted?

"Stop it!" he shouted with fear as vines began reaching for him, the leaves rubbing against his skin, shredding his clothes. The vine within his shoulder blade pulled itself out roughly. "AAAHH!" But she didn't listen. They coiled around and around him, binding his limbs as they threw him on the ground. They had completely mummified him- not an inch of him was spared. They went under his clothes, around his throat, and covered his mouth, preventing him from even crying out loud.

He rolled frantically on the ground, hoping to at least snap one vine to free himself. He tugged, struggled as they wrapped themselves tighter and tighter.

_My dagger!_ Chevy bite down on the plant in his mouth, chewing them apart and lunged for his blade, picking up the dagger with his teeth, slashing off whatever he could.

They suddenly loosened.

He froze as they draped off, and looked up at Ivy.

She'd morphed to the point of inhumanity.

Her skin was a lively shade of green. Her feet had transformed into roots, digging deep into the rocky ground. Her body was a humanoid stem, branching out with vines and leaves surrounding it. Her hair was no longer hair, but a shrub of vegetation. Her face had blended into the greenness, almost nonexistent save for the noticeable rows of white teeth, and that pair of yellow serpent eyes. The last trace of whatever beauty she had possessed was gone.

She was hideous.

_A Devil Fruit user... _Chevy backed away from her, choking a sob. Subconsciously, he scratched an itch on his face as he did so, and that was all it took to set the rest of his body aflame.

His fingernails roughly clawed at every corner of his face as the itch spread like wildfire. Down his neck, onto his collarbones, his arms, legs, chests, back, fingers... Rashes broke out everywhere his fingers touched. He dropped on the ground, rolling on the wet, mossy rocks, harshly rubbing himself to get the friction he needed. The blood swelled underneath the skin, and he scratched and scratched and scratched with fury. The nails cut through the skin, and he screamed in pain.

"Ahahaha!" the half-plant half woman creature laughed with glee as she watched him tearing himself apart. The leaves rustled. "Now you're as ugly as I am! Ahahaha!"

_Stop! I've got to stop!_ he cried as his hand involuntarily reached for his back. Tears ran from his eyes down to his chin and sweat soaked through with the blood, stinging and burning his raw flesh. His body flopped like a fish out of water. _Stop! STOP!_

"Ahehehe, you stopped!"

Sickening amusement twisted her face as he clenched his hand around a rock to force himself from touching another itch. He flinched as the branch that used to be one of her arms shot out, wrapped itself around his waist, and threw him into the air without warning. His head hit the ceiling, and he screamed, choking on blood as his skull throbbed. It didn't let him go, and held him hovering above his captor instead.

"The plant fruit, a sub-family of the Zoan class fruits, one of thirteen," she whispered, and spread her lips thin into a maniacal smile. "The Shoku Shoku no mi, model: poison ivy. Because of this fruit, I lost my ability to swim."

Something flickered in her eyes, and her whole expression changed.

"I liked swimming," she said. "Can you swim?"

He was too terrified and too exhausted to even think.

"You can swim!" she answered for him. "Of course you can swim!" Her other "arm" shot out and grabbed him by the throat, and _squeezed_. He gagged. "Why should you have that joy when I'm denied of it! If only I could swim... If only I could swim, I could have done so much more! I could've left, I could've escaped... You want to escape too, huh? But I won't let you, because you are ordered to die."

Her grips tightened, choking him.

"I will finish you!"


	44. Run

**Author's Note:** Cookies go to _zugless, Dogychou, anonymous, WTF,_ and _kiku90_ for reviewing!

To _anonymous:_ Yep, the seven sins. Though, Narcisse AKA the okama isn't Wrath, but Vanity (or Pride). He's only angry because it wasn't the first time that he got that answer from people. All seven sins were introduced, actually. I just made some personalities more compatible to their "sin" than others so some are harder to tell than others. Don't worry, I'll make a small list at the end of the arc to clear things up. :)

There were some serious problems with the structure of the chapter, but, hopefully, this will still somewhat work. Enjoy!

Man, I'm _so_ behind schedule that it's not even funny anymore. -_-'

EDIT: My gawd, I feel like the idiot I am... A name of a Devil Fruit in this chapter has been changed. "Ketsu", originally intended to from "ketsueki" meaning blood, actually means a certain part of the human anatomy... *cough* Thanks to Dogychou for telling me. "Eki" would be used instead. *Is embarrassed to the infinity*

* * *

The sea howled like a werewolf under full moon.

Above, the clouds gathered and thickened in the sky, graying by the moment as if a thunderstorm was approaching. Yet, beyond that, the sun shone brilliantly- as if rebellious clouds were trying to block the rays. Down below, the tides rocked the oceans. Careless ships entering this region were decimated in a matter of seconds. It was a hurricane dominating the part of the sea by the dictation of the monster wind, rising the sea, mercilessly wiping out whatever that got in the way of its growth.

In the dead center of the storm's eye was an island with a wall of water encircling it. Trees swayed from what little wind that managed to escape from the outside storm. Animals, terrified of the looming wall, ran into hiding. However, the wall never edge any closer. It seemed like a little miracle floating in the middle of this unspeakable chaos, as if protected by a higher power.

She _loathed_ that island.

She raised up high above, gazing down with hatred, and unleashed her wrath upon it. The colossal water surged up, and crashed down. An invisible barrier repelled the attack, as did it repelled the whirling silver blades she sent. For a split second, one could even make out the shimmering of silver threads draped around the place.

She let out an inhuman shriek of fury as she began to spin at an unbelievably fast pace, faster, faster and faster until even the blur of her disappeared. Then she swooped down at the island like a bird of prey attacking a rat.

The collision rocked the sea, and the hurricane mutated out of nature's control. Wind, once blowing in the same direction, battled and fought head on with opposite flows. Not far away, an unfortunate Sea King who dared to rise above the surface got torn and shredded into pieces instantaneously, its blood dyeing the ocean.

Somewhere in the mist of all this insanity, the woman's laughter rang out with frightening happiness.

In Kentra's own mind, Death and Destruction laughed with her.

Seconds later, the storm and the laughter disappeared, the wind died down, the clouds parted, letting golden rays through, and the sea was calm again.

She had submerged for her hunt.

* * *

Hiroki found himself truly running for his life in a long time.

_Rule number one of fighting,_ the voice of his childhood combat instructor came back to him as he sped down the tunnel as fast as he could, _never fight a standing, vicious army. Chances of winning by mere power are slim to nil. Run away. _He jumped down from a ledge behind two more of those man-beasts, and struck them in the back, the sounds of spines snapping and dying cries echoed around the wet cavern. _Thin their forces out and take them down one by one. Guerrilla tactic is essential if you want to survive. _

After crushing their skulls to ensure death, he kept going.

_I've got the warn the others, if I can find them,_ he thought, kicking another one against a wall and killed him with a quick tap on the neck. _Whatever this place is, it's not safe._

The tunnels were like a maze. Third time already, he passed the same dead body, and had frowned at himself with discontentment. It didn't help that he felt as if he was being... not technically watched, but watched, nonetheless.

_These webs..._ He narrowed his eyes as he passed under another large and silver cobweb, and quickly crawled into a nearby hole just in time as a large pack of them came within sight. They stopped by his hiding place, sharp, predatory eyes scanning, before huffed and took off. Hiroki watched them leave, and relaxed in the hole that could barely contain him.

One thing he was sure was that at least some of them were pirates; there had been too many with Jolly Rogers for him to conclude otherwise. Second, they were all humans, even though they acted more like wolf packs than anything else. But thirdly, and the worst of them all, they were definitely not all that was here.

Why? Simple. Animals cannot operate like this, even the most intelligent ones. This was more or less planned, and animals do not plan.

In another words, someone was controlling them.

Hiroki looked down the hole he'd crawled into, wondering if he should go forward into it, or back out and run outside until he could find someone, and finally decided to continue crawling.

More than worried, he was curious.

There was a laughter before, wasn't there? Perhaps, she was their master. He would like to see her, he would like to know just what kind of a person was capable of degrading men to the level of mindless hunting hounds. Such a being must be powerful.

_Why would someone like that reside in a place like this then?_ Was his next question.

The hole, he soon enough found out, led to the exact place that he'd started off before this whole mess; the cavern where he'd found _Maria_. Rather displeased at his previous decision, he glanced around the area twice before cautiously coming out, dusting the rocks and dirt off of his clothes. A little anger bloomed within him at the sight of the ship, and his jaws clenched.

_Maria_ had been thoroughly raided. The doors he'd managed to fix before now lay in pieces on the ground. Remnants of food were littered here and there, trampled and pressed flat. There were even bite marks on the rails and woods- and he lifted a corner of his lips with cold disgust. The chewed woods were damped and darkened with saliva. It was an absolute wreck.

"What a way to ruin someone's hard work," he muttered with annoyance.

A shadow moved on the ship.

_They're still there?_ He thought, slightly alarmed, and grimaced, starting to regret taking this route. _Shit._

One emerged, eyeing him like he was food, and howled.

"You really crossed the line," Hiroki said to that one single man as enemies began charging into the cavern once again. "I don't like it when people destroy my hard work for no reason."

Of course, they weren't listening.

"What the hell are you all?" he asked, a question that could be considered rhetorical by this point. What sort of verbal answer should he expect anyway, if any?

But to his surprise, one spoke up.

"Hungry."

He flinched in alarm at the word, but couldn't tell where that came from. _They're... cannibals?_

_No,_ Hiroki rethought it. _They don't act like it._

"Light." This time, it was from another. "Hornets, wasps, bees..."

"Hurt!"

_What?_

"My captain! My captain!"

And they all began at once, all blabbing out nonsensical incomplete phrases.

"Stings!"

"Captain! Captain!"

"Freedom!"

Despite not knowing a thing of what they were talking about, that last word was all it took for Hiroki to freeze. He grew still, and then turned his head towards the direction of that voice, but soon lost it as another shouted the same, causing him to turn again. "Freedom!"

Pretty soon, a chant started up.

His hands balled into fists as "Freedom, freedom" rang over and over again, and he backed off, anxiously trying to find an opening to escape as his head began to swim. The word then simplified even more; "Free! Free! Free!"

_Stop it!_ He commanded silently, trying to drown them out, didn't even notice that his hands were beginning to tremble and his breathing getting more and more shallow. Without warning, a familiar memory flashed through in his mind and a distance voice chimed with them. Trying as he was, he couldn't push them away. Then he realized, _I have to get out of here._

He ran for the single tunnel, but A claw-like hand suddenly grabbed him around the throat and pushed him back on the ground.

_They're fast!_ He hissed as his body collided with the hard ground, and kicked up, knocking the attacker away, snapping his neck. "Don't get in my way," he whispered harshly, standing once again.

Every single one of them had gone silent. Then...

"My way," one echoed. "My way to freedom." They stepped closer to him.

"You're in my way," he heard one of them saying in a blank, monotone, absolutely lifeless voice. Closer and closer they got. "Kill..."

"Kill..."

He couldn't leave, Hiroki began to understand. By now, it was impossible unless he kills them all. His fists clenched by his sides again, his jaws set and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes, the killing began.

Bodies dropped dead. Necks snapped. Dying screams filled the air as he stepped on bones. Still, there was more as they clawed at him, biting into his flesh, threatening to tear him apart.

Too many.

* * *

Camry didn't know how he kept the fight up this long. Standing in the middle of this circle that the serpent had drawn around him, he stared straight into the its black eyes and held on to his boomerangs. The beast was mocking him, and he knew it because one simple reason; he wasn't eaten yet.

"You're pretty smart for a reptile," he spat as the Black Mamba went around him again, the tongue darting in and out, as if thanking him for the sarcastic compliment with equal sarcasm.

He didn't know whether to keep fighting until he find a way out, or kill it- both were problems, because in order to escape, he _had _to kill it, but killing it seemed impossible.

There were already cracks in his boomerangs from the many swings he'd thrown; its leathery, scaly skin was as strong as steel and as elastic as rubber. He hadn't inflicted a single fatal blow so far. It was waiting for him to tire out, like a child playing with its food until that child grew impatient enough to devour it. Escape required killing, and there was no way he saw for the serpent to die.

Worst of all that still hadn't left his mind, this creature was highly venomous. He closed his eyes and hoped that Chuckie and Ren had ran to somewhere safer, or at least, found one of the others.

_I have to warn everyone too,_ he thought, spinning one boomerang. _I don't know what the hell is wrong with this place with all the silver webs and this snake, but it isn't safe. I can only hope that this snake is the only thing here._

_Hisssssssss,_ the Mamba hissed, and it translated into Camry's head as an entertained chuckle that said, "Oh, what are you going to try now? I want to see! Show me how you'll try and fail to kill me again!" _Hissssssssssss. _

The Ss bounced and echoed.

He swung, aiming for the tail. _Whoosh!_

The serpent easily knocked it away, hissing delightfully, as if laughing at his petty attempt.

"You legless bastard," Camry snarled darkly, feeling anger beginning to rise. "Thinking you're all high and mighty because you're obese and overgrown, huh?"

The hissing immediately stopped, and it lowered its head dangerously to his level, the forked tongue flickering out, almost touching him.

The human seemed to not move, and then- _WHAM! _He slammed his other boomerang with all his might against the lower jaw of the beast, causing it to reel upward, screeching in pain.

He took the opportunity, picked up the second boomerang and threw it as hard as he could towards the wide opened mouth. Relief washed over him as the beast's cry was silenced for just a single moment, the bone-made weapon clogged in its throat. It still, as if stunned, then let out an ear-shattering roar that Camry didn't think that snakes were even capable of making.

The cave quaked and rocks fell.

_This monster..._ He thought, gritting his teeth and slammed against the body again while he had the chance. The snake coiled rapidly at the pain, rising higher and higher until its head brushed the ceiling, roaring with pain as the little rat attacked it over and over.

Camry did not notice the tail swinging him way until it hit him dead on the chest, sending him flying into a wall outside the circle.

_Wham!_

Blood flooded his taste buds as he collapsed down. Red dribbled down his chin.

The serpent was going mad. It thrashed wildly in the air as the human on the ground attempted to recover, desperately trying to get out the thing that'd been stuck deep in its throat, couldn't be swallowed or spat.

It finally came to one conclusion, and attacked the one responsible for all this.

Camry barely had enough time to dodge, and that was all he could make sense of. The snake had gotten serious, and he'd sensed the danger as the flesh tried to surround him again. He ran and jumped, knowing that the game was done. He could smell the rotten breath of the beast as he sped down the tunnel with it following close behind. The jaws snapped at him, the fangs millimeters away.

He made the mistake of turning around, and-

The fangs met his face, and the jaws snapped shut at the first try to consume him.

Perhaps it had only needed one try- the fangs were coated with purple venom, and it had made contact with his forehead, dripping downwards. More landed on him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" And he found himself screaming in pain as the venom streaked through his eyes, down his cheeks, burning his skin as a loud hiss followed their paths, and he made the second mistake of opening his eyes, letting the poison sweep into his eyeballs and sockets.

"Hiiaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss!" the Mamba answered his cry with furious triumph.

He couldn't see.

It burned!

He opened his eyes, cold sweat drenching his body, and saw that everything was a blur.

He couldn't _see_!

_BOOM!_ Rocks showered around him as he groped for his boomerang, trying to get back on his feet.

"Hiiiisssssssssssss!"

He could smell the revolting breath of the beast, lunging for him as he lost his balance on his trembling feet, eyes closed tight shut as the venom continued to eat away at the streaks it'd created.

"D- Damn it!" he whispered, suddenly feeling the beating of his heart faltering, and raced, and faltered again. His hands were going numb.

_The poison..._ he recalled dimly, trying to get up. _...Of this snake... Four hours... Not if I don't get eaten by then._

The roaring hiss was but a distant sound by this point.

_Thump,_ beat his heart. _Thump...Thuthump..._

He found his boomerang.

He needed air. Couldn't breath properly.

The mouth was heading for him.

_No!_

He struggled one last time to escape, and fell right back down.

Maybe what he heard next was a complete hallucination.

"Woof!"

_Chomp!_

The serpent shifted away and hissed with annoyance, as if distracted. At the same time, something snapped within Camry as he slowly registered what was going on with horror.

_...Ren!_

* * *

"I can't... I can't breathe," Killer managed to get out as he opened his mouth, trying to get in air.

His body had suddenly gone numb and hot at the same time, his heart was beating faster than usual, pounding like a drum against his ears. What was more, he couldn't help but to step forward at the woman's command. A surge of strange desire was dictating his feet, and in the mist of all this heat and fear, an erection strained against his pants.

He choked, gasping, disgusted with himself at the display and held himself back with all his will, telling himself to run. They could still make it, they could still get away from her! They couldn't fight her.

"Kidd..." he whispered in panic as he felt the redhead's hand suddenly releasing its grip, and widened his eyes. "No...Kidd, don't fight! Kidd-"

"You damn bitch!" the captain snarled at the Red Lady, completely disregarding his inaudible warning, lifting up a hand to summon his power source. "Whatever the hell you're doing to Killer, I'll make you regret it!"

Cyrine's green eyes were still on him, neglecting the threat like Kidd wasn't even there, and beckoned him again.

He felt his heart racing faster and faster until it dizzied him. "Come here," she called out, shifting her pose by the doorway.

_What is she doing? What is her power?_

"You want me," he heard her say, and saw a smile on her beautiful, blood-covered face as she stretched out a hand, as if to welcome him, and he began trembling, slowly realizing what. _No... No! _"Let me have you!"

* * *

Kidd did not know who this bitch was. All he knew was that he hated her, and for good reasons.

_"Don't fight! Don't fight her!"_ The masked man's voice was but a panicking chime in the distance as he glowered at her. Don't fight her? That was impossible! He wanted more than to just fight her- he wanted to kill her! What the hell did she think she was doing? What the hell _was_ she doing to Killer! He didn't wait another moment pondering, and, completely ignoring the warning, lifted up a hand, activating his power.

Purple electricity crackled through the air, catching Cyrine's interest. She only had the time to flinch before something zoomed for her. A hand shot out like lightning, and grasped hold of the projectile before it could hit her.

_She's fast!_ Kidd thought, startled as the woman, with ever so slow movements, brought the summoned candles stand in front of her, looking it up and down as if she's never seem it before in her life before throwing it aside. The fire vanquished as soon as it touched the wet ground. Her eyelids slowly closed as the corner of her lips drooped into an unhappy expression. She then stared straight at Kidd with cold, hard green eyes.

As soon as her attention were away from Killer, the masked man seemed to have broken her spell, and immediately began retreating. "Kidd, let's go!"

She lifted a finger, and pointed directly at Kidd before the captain had to chance to move. "Hari no Eki."

Needle-like pain shot through his inside before he could even blink, and he lurches forward, screaming and clutching his chest as his heart _squeezed_- not squeeze like he was emotionally upset, but _physically_ being squeezed, like her very hand was around it, crushing it.

"Kidd!" Killer shouted.

The muscle contracted, and sharp pain continued to agonized him as he screamed and snarled on the ground. His blood was on fire! His veins were burning! His eyes rolled over as a flood of the metallic-tasting fluid rushed over his taste buds. Blood poured out of his nose. He was bleeding from all over- his ears, his eyes, blood seemed to be swelling under his skin. His heart was beating at an abnormal pattern. He couldn't breathe!

"What is this?" they heard Cyrine mutter, her voice a monotone. "A dog? A pig? I can't tell. Nor do I care. An animal should not get in my way.

"Hehehe..." she chuckled, and licked her lips, revealing two canine teeth. "Though, its blood smells pleasingly appetizing."

_THUMP!_

The drumming of his heart drowned out all sound as he raged on the ground, coughing out mouthful after mouthful of red. He didn't hear an enraged snarl coming from Killer's throat, didn't feel the glacial air, didn't see as Killer drew of scythes and charged towards her. He wasn't able to take in any of those until an explosion occurred, a scream erupted in the air, and her spell ended.

Kidd lay, shivering as he began regaining his vision, and found himself in the middle of a puddle of his own blood. The pain faded away slowly, echoes of the needles shot through his bloodstream as he quickly gained control of himself once again, breathing quick, shallow breaths.

"Kidd!" Killer's voice made him flinch, and the redhead immediately pushed himself up, looking everywhere frantically.

_Where is he?_

"Hehehe..." Cyrine laughed in a honey-coated, sickeningly laugh. "What splendid golden hair."

_Where are they!_ His head was swimming. Images of her putting her hand on Killer flashed, and anger flared like fire, fueling him.

Kidd blinked and wiped blood off his face, turning towards the entrance to the chamber. _Of course, where else?_ And with unstable feet, and a light head, he ran for it. _I'll kill her!_

"KIDD!" his first mate's voice screamed his name again just before he reached the room. "RUN! DON'T COME NEAR HER!"

Too late.

The smell hit his nose at full blast, clogging his air. His stomach lurched, and he almost threw up his gut just from the awful scent alone.

What he saw made every fiber in his body freeze, stopping even involuntary movements.

The walls, the ground, the bed... Everything, _everything_ was covered in brown stains. They lined and streaked like the work of some bad graffiti artist- brown stains that had originally been red. But what was even astonishing than that was what made this whole scenario even more nauseous than it already was; dead bodies piling on top of one another like mountains.

Dead corpses of men, to be exact. _Naked,_ dead, rotting corpses with holes in the center of their chests, like something had been ripped out.

The stench, composed of blood, corpses and sweat, was absolutely revolting.

_That wench lives here..._ he thought, paling and closing his mouth so he wouldn't vomit. _That wench... _His eyes snapped wide. _She has Killer!_

And as if on cue, her voice rang out. "You're not an animal?"

Kidd spun around.

"No," she answered her own question. "Not at all. How strange. From afar, I thought that you were a giant puppy of some sort."

Killer was right behind her on the ground, covered in blood as well.

"...I told you to run," the blond man wheezed out, and coughed. Kidd could hear the liquid splattering on the inside of the the mask.

He stared at the so-called Red Lady, who gazed back at him with calm, dream-like emerald eyes.

She had beaten Killer so easily, left him helpless on the ground, and had the confidence to turn her back at him, as if declaring that he wouldn't be a threat anymore. Kidd knew that him and his crew weren't the strongest people in the world, but Killer...His hands balled into fists. Killer had been stronger than him, and was still in strength! Yet, he still got kicked down so effortlessly!

"How sweet," she muttered. "He wants to save you." Then, contradicting what she had said minutes before then, she waved her hands at him like he was a dog, and went, "Shoo! Good boy, go away!" He couldn't even tell if she was serious or if she was only doing it to mock him.

But one thing for sure; he was beyond furious by this point.

"You disgusting, corpse-eating bitch!" he howled, attracting whatever he could and repelled the cluster towards her at high speed.

With a swift kick, she knocked it aside.

"I said, 'Shoo,'" she repeated, this time more firmly, and lifted up a finger again. "Hari no Ek-"

_Slice!_

Killer's scythes whirled in the air as it made a direct cut on her back, and the blond, somewhat recovered, quickly leaped away from her and back to Kidd's side. The only reaction that he got from her was a look of surprise that only last moment before a dark expression took over.

"Run!" the redheaded captain said.

"You idiot!" the first mate snarled right back. "I told _you_ to run!"

"Then run with me!" Kidd said. "Let's go!"

"Run...?" Cyrine whispered from her spot, staring at her bloody hand. Her lips suddenly drew up into a sneer, and a breeze fluttered her red curls. "Run from me? ...Where do you think you're going again, Lars? Come back. Come back, Lars! You're not going anywhere!"

_Who the hell is Lars?_ Kidd wondered for a single second, watching with confusion as her face twisted with tears, rage and bitterness.

"I won't let you leave me again!"

* * *

Killer lifted up a scythe to meet her kick, and froze in shock as the metal blade cracked apart like glass and fell in shards, rendering it useless. He was quickly snapped out of the shock as Kidd swung a a fist at her jaw without warning, sending her flying back before she could further her attack.

Cyrine's body hit the wall roughly, blood leaking from her broken jaw and bleeding lips.

But that one punch was hardly enough. She stood right back up the next moment, and lifted a hand again. "You unruly animal!" she snarled, glaring at an equally angry Kidd. "You should be leashed and starved! How dare you keep me from what's mine! I won't let you live!"

"Kidd, don't fight her!" Killer screamed as he saw her raising her hand once more. "She's a Devil Fruit user!"

"So what?" Kidd hissed. A shadow had fell over his eyes.

"Don't be stupid!" the masked man continued. "If she's here, then without a doubt that the others are in trouble as well! We can't waste any time-"

"Killer."

The calm tone stopped his ranting. "What?"

"You understand...that you're no one else's but mine, right?"

His frustration shot through the roof. "THIS ISN'T THE TIME RIGHT NOW!"

"I don't like what she said," was all he got back.

Killer, for the first time in years, didn't know what to do at the moment. He was too overwhelmed by disbelief- dumbfounded by everything that was going on. His instinct even went as far as wanting to start a lecture right then and there just to spite Kidd and get them out of there. However, strangely enough to him, the main problem was no longer their untimely death anymore, but the same problem that he'd thought had gone away days ago.

_Why the hell is he acting like this?_ he thought, agitated, having enough of the nonsense.

"_Repel! _Oi- Watch out!"

_BOOM!_

Killer dodged just as a leg kicked downward, smashing the ground into pieces.

A hand suddenly wrapped around his neck, and pulled him down. He made a grab at the hand, attempting to get away but finding it impossible as the same needle-like pain tortured him with every movement. His heart wasn't beating rhythmically.

The heat came back, drowning his mind. His body felt feverish.

"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HIM!"

A feeling stirred his groin area, and his pants grew tighter.

"Hehehe..." The laughter wasn't far away.

_She has me_, Killer realized, gritting his teeth to try to shake away her spell again. He couldn't breathe! "Hari no Eki."

Tormented screams erupted from Kidd's throat, and the masked man's anger rose to a whole new level hearing it. With a snarl, he forced himself up and aimed for her neck, but just like before, her leg shot up an kicked his scythe aside, breaking that one as well. He widened his eyes in the mist of this fever, growing more panicking. In the background, he heard Kidd's scream lessen, and finally fading all together as the redheaded captain lay trembling on the ground, vomiting blood.

"What are you doing to us!" he whispered, huffing and gulping air.

"The Eki Eki no mi, the Blood Fruit," Cyrine said, and lifted one of her hands, wiggling her fingers like she was playing some sort of an instrument.

The heat felt hotter all of a sudden.

"You'll feel good if you let me do it," she whispered, coming closer to him, a smile forming on her face. "Lie down." Her hands snaked around his neck, and she leaned closer. He couldn't help but noticed faded scars of what appeared to be sores on her face, and tried to draw back. "You can't resist me." He grabbed her wrists and squeezed, but it did not good. She extended out her tongue and licked a drop of blood off his neck, making him protesting in fury, which she stop by grasping his mask and slamming him down to the ground. The impact shook his skull, the pain worsened by the lack of oxygen, and he screamed.

She grinned maddenly at him as she successfully pinned him down, sitting on his right leg and looming over him. Her knees purposely rubbed against his unwilling erection, making him hitch his breath. A surge of self-disgust arose within Killer at the involuntary noise.

"Your blood," she muttered. "Your blood tastes wonderful, and so does your flesh. And your hair..." One of her hands grabbed a handful and jerked his head up, arching his upper half off the ground roughly, muttering, "So gold...So beautiful-"

_ZzzZzz...WHAM!_

A bundle of metals smashed against her head from the side just as she finished, silencing her.

Killer tilted his head and saw Kidd standing, though wobbly, metallic objects gathering around an arm.

"You..." the standing man hissed.

The objects slid off, and Cyrine turned as well, completely disregarding the fact that she was bleeding profusely from one side of her head, and looked at Kidd in puzzlement. She didn't let go of Killer.

"I didn't use my power on you," she muttered, staring at the bulge between Kidd's legs, and sneered. "I didn't need to?" She tossed her hair back and laughed.

"Killer," he whispered, staring straight at his captured first mate.

The blond looked back, and and wanted to die right then and there. He couldn't stand the look on his face- anger, disbelief, betrayal, longing. It churned his stomach.

_Don't look at me like that!_ "Go away."

"Leave," the woman commanded in a dead tone, the last trace of humor gone.

He couldn't look away from that face.

"Go away!" he said again.

Kidd exploded. "NO!" He flung his "arm" towards them blindly. This time, she was prepared, and like child-play, met it dead on and scattered it. Killer detected Haki, but at the moment, was too humiliated to care.

"Leave now!"

"YOU THINK I'M A JOKE TO YOU!" the younger screamed with rage. "YOU THINK I'M A JOKE!"

He wouldn't hear it. How could he? He couldn't bear that look. He couldn't bear the fact that Kidd saw him like this- helpless and aroused, and it only served to confuse and frighten him further that Kidd was having a reaction to it. He wouldn't have it! He refused to! "IF YOU DON'T LEAVE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" _Don't look at me like that!_

Killer watched the expression morph, watched those eyes harden and calm, watched Kidd slowly backing away.

_I'm sorry._

He'd left.

Cyrine smiled an eerily content smile. "The dog is gone," she muttered, gazing at where Kidd had been.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Killer picked up one of the scattered daggers.

He wasn't just angry; he was _furious_, furious like he'd never had before in his entire life as he stared at the green-eyed woman above him. The pain didn't matter, the heat and desire became insignificant. He hated her. He hated her because she caused this. Any other time, a part of him would argue that the accusation was unreasonable and irrational, but now he could care less. All he saw as he looked at her was Kidd's face. It was his fault, technically, but she caused it! And so he blamed her.

His hand closed around the dagger handle.

She'll pay for it!

* * *

Hiroki had no idea of how he felt at the moment, and perhaps that was the factor that scared him the most as he worked his way through these... He had no idea what to call them; that was another problem, but one hardly to be concerned about this time, not when you were trying to stay alive.

A jump, a kick, a punch, a snap of a neck, and he was swarmed all over again.

_I killed so many of them,_ he thought as he landed on his feet again, breathing heavily. _So why do they keep coming back?_

"_Free!"_ That word howled in his mind.

"Get out of my way!" he hissed darkly, striking down another one and leaped over the body, determining to get to the exit this time.

"_Free!"_

_Shut up!_

His jaw clenched in pain as a set of teeth bit him in the arm, sinking down and drawing blood, and he whirled around, furious, and crushed the skull with a slam. Brain and blood spilled like water, drowning him further and further into instability. And the same thing happened again and again. He couldn't even figure out if they'd just want him dead, or to eat him. Why, then, weren't they devouring each other? Why were they hunting him so relentlessly? What was the purpose behind them? Who did this? Who!

At once, just like that, everything suddenly stopped, like someone had pressed the pause button for time.

Hiroki shakily wrenched himself away as the men around him all turned their heads towards the only exit of the tunnel, making him turn as well.

An uncanny whooshing sound of the wind crept into the cavern.

They began backing away.

_What's going on now?_ He wondered, looking back and forth between the retreated animals and the noise from the tunnel that was getting louder and louder with each passing second, contemplating with the notion of following them. Whatever it was that was approaching them wasn't good news.

He backed a step as well, and chaos took over.

A blast of gray shot out at incredible speed, bringing with it high wind. Hiroki covered his face with his sleeve as the violent air blew past him, nearly knocking him off his feet.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

His eyes snapped wide as large chunks of stone were cut, and fell around the area, and flinched even more when something flew past his face, a cut gushing open on his cheek a second later.

What made this all even worse was the screams of fear behind him. Although he saw the scene in action only for a split of a second, that was all he needed.

Limbs were cut clean off by whirls of invisible blades. Heads flew off of necks. Red danced in the air. A laughter of a woman rang loud and clear as the wind massacred the men almost simultaneously while they were trying to escape. Boulders still fell around them in explosions.

When that split of a second passed, they were all dead.

Only he was left standing, staring with an unreadable, pale face at what happened in front of him; the remnants of hundreds of bodies, the scattered limbs and other body parts Blood pooled into puddles. The wind blew with sadistic delight, now heading around him, singling him out.

He looked up, saw her, and felt everything within him stopped working at once as fear like he'd never experienced before overwhelmed him.

There was nothing to be seen of that woman except her head and the upper part of her body. Her gray hair merged with the wind, as did her arms and everything below her waist. She was floating atop, gazing down at him with the most hateful, triumphant gray eyes that he'd ever seen, and Hiroki understood now of just what sort of hell that they had landed in. Now, everything made sense; the storm from before, why they fell in, and those hound-like men.

It'd been a long time since he studied history, but even he remembered her.

"'Hurricane' Kentra," he whispered, and saw the corners of her lips lifting up, clearly pleased that he knew her.

"Hurricane" Kentra, the first mate of the Hell Kaiser whose crew was said to be utterly insane from the lowest of the infantry to the very captain himself. Yet, this psychopathic woman was more infamous, perhaps even more dangerous and powerful, than Ante. Merciless, heartless, angry, mad- a personification of insanity.

_The madwoman who'd eaten the Kaze Kaze no mi- a Devil Fruit with the power to destroy this world,_ a voice said in the back of his head. _The wind Logia._

He turned white.

_We have to get away now!_

He decided that he wasn't stupid or reckless enough to fight her. She was an element, intangible and nearly indestructible, and she had so easily mass-murdered those beast-like men who'd nearly torn him into pieces; she'd killed her own crew! Him? He was useless against her. There was no way that he could survive in a struggle, and so he ran. But even as he ran, he knew that that effort was in vain too.

Kentra's laughter crackled like thunder behind him at his lame attempt as she dove down like an eagle, shrieking with glee.

The wind closed its claws around him. His world washed over in red as blades struck his body everywhere, cutting, blood spew out of his mouth, out of his many wounds; he couldn't even voice his pain in cries.

And down he collapsed.


	45. Infections of Monsters

**Author's Note:** Candy canes goes to _skadi-glastheim, 0-0, oOWolfGirlOo, anomymous, quiveringflame, Dogychou, ChibiFluffy, Kiku90_ and _yumeniai_ for reviewing! :D

Remember what I said about this arc being a disgusting one few chapters ago? Well, as bloody and violent last chapter is, the real reason why I even put that part in the warning is because of something in _this_ chapter. No, what I'm talking about isn't physically disgusting, but conceptually disgusting. I've debated with myself of whether to put it in there or not for a while now- because while this seems to me like the most logical (...You don't want to know what goes on in my mind -_-') end and would emphasize the important details a lot better than if I'm to take a more acceptable and normal route- and I've actually toned it down a lot more than my original planning- I'm still very weary about this subject. So bear it? For plot's sake?

A big Thank You goes to one epically awesome _Kiku90_, who made me a fan art of Kidd trying to read...Hehe. Thank you so much, Kiku! Here's a link: http: / lizzimedz. Deviantart. Com/ art/ Kidd-reading-188898252 Or just go to my profile if you're too lazy.

To _anomymous_: That part is all planned, and will come soon, very soon. ;)

To _Skadi_: You! You're the one who asked about Eddie and Bat-chan before! Yes, Eddie is in this arc. You should figure him out in time.

To _Dogychou:_ You are a wonderful and intelligent human being. I think we both know why that is. XD

Ahem...There was a change last chapter.

Oh my gawd at episode 480; MY INNER HELMEPPO/COBY FANGIRL WENT BATSHIT INSANE! ...And I lol-ed at Sengoku's manboobs. :B

And one last thing, a special feature of Cloverkeat's end of this writing-art Christmas trade she has with me on DA. I haven't done my end yet, but what she did for me is so fucking epic that everyone must see it now! You win the internet, dear! Link: http: / cloverkeat. deviantart. com/ art/ Bad-Romance-parody-190022495? offset = 50 # comments

* * *

Somewhere deep down under, a fearful, dying cry erupted.

A thud of something being discarded on the ground.

Flame.

A corner of a pair of lips lifted into a cold, lurid smirk as the person watched the lifeless body disintegrating by the infernal fire. His servant watched him.

"The fly is trapped. I will go and retrieve the meal."

* * *

Kidd didn't know where he was running to or how long he'd been at it. He was aimless, tired, lightheaded, but most of all, energized by the great anger that boiled like molten lava inside of him. There was but one thought on his head; Killer's voice telling him to leave. Two forces within seemed to be battling each other. Both screaming, yet both screamed for different reasons. One was telling him to head back, and the other only howled with blind rage at what he'd saw before, and so far, the latter was winning.

The very notion of someone else putting a hand on Killer disgusted and infuriated him.

_And he told me to leave!_ The inner mad voice raged. _I'll leave! I'll leave and we'll see!_ But as quickly as it'd rise, the other voice stomped it down. It went on like this as he ran until he was sure that he'd pass out from the internal conflict and the lightheadedness from the loss of blood previously.

It wasn't the familiar weight landing within Kidd that told him he had set did the redhead stopped. His footsteps slowed, and the sound of his heartbeat immediately became clear to his ears, and with that, the heavy panting and his dry throat.

"Killer," he gasped out, staggering a bit.

_I have to go back!_

Killer could take care of himself, a piece of him said, that was why he told Kidd to leave. But, something else also told him that if he didn't kill her, he'll never get Killer back.

She was taking him! She touched him! That information was enough to make him disregard everything, had he not forced himself to stop concentrating on it.

_Where did I come from? _He was lost. White spots were beginning to appear in his vision, and he rubbed his eyes. _Damn it! Where the hell am I? A cavern? Which way did I come out of?_ The room was wavering, and so was his concentration. Silver webs... silver...

A growl of furious annoyance arose from his throat.

_What the hell is wrong with this fucking place!_

This should be easy, he told himself as he tried to calm down. After all, he was a human magnet. All he had to do was to find out which direction his internal compass was pointing at, navigate using that, and retrace his steps back to Killer before it was too late. It should be simple, but it wasn't, and only served to confuse him further. North? South? Run the opposite direction? Was east left of north or right? The newly set Log Pose contributed no good. He was too exhausted to think it through properly.

Subconsciously, he took an instinctive step towards the direction his Devil Fruit was tugging him, regaining a bit of sense. Another step, and then-

_WHOOSH!_

A surge of wind rushed in, swept him off his feet and sent him crashing against stoney wet wall. A mouthful of blood spewed out as he felt his bones throbbing and rattling in the smash.

The same laughter that had lured them in now rang out loud and clear as he fell down, limped.

Kentra danced wildly high above, her wind breaking apart miscellaneous rock pieces. Finally, she slowed and landed, her bare feet appearing as she touched to ground, and turned her gaze towards the young pirate captain, creeping close upon his beaten person with eyes blazing with curiosity and interest, like a cat finding a shiny gem in the dark.

"You..." Kidd heard her whisper, and saw her lips drawing back menacingly, showing a mouth of teeth. "Our prey."

The redhead stared up the best he could, and shifted, managing to move a bit. How they even came to be here flashed through his mind; the wind, the storm, that laughter...

"You had fun," she mused. "No?"

_This old hag is her!_ he realized, tensing up.

She stepped away from him, her expression never changing. "I'm thinking," she then muttered in a low voice that made Kidd think that she wasn't talking to anyone but herself. "Of which way to kill you best."

He slowly, inch by inch, pushed himself to stand.

"I have to kill you," Kentra continued. "Before he does. But how?"

Her crazy pondering went over Kidd's head as he regathered himself and asked, "Which way is that other bitch?"

"He's coming soon," she went on, ignoring him. "I will make it fast. Yes, and he'll be angered!" She seemed delight by the idea of angering whomever that person was.

"I SAID, 'WHICH WAY IS SHE?' WHERE'S KILLER!" he shouted.

That caught her attention. Her thin lips pressed even thinner, her eyes narrowed into slits, her feet vanished once again and she soared into the air. Instantaneously, the wind picked up speed and followed her.

"Watch whom you're talking to, little rookie," she addressed him. "Why should I care about where they are? You miss your nakamas?" Her face scrunched up into a mocking sneer. "You shouldn't. They're dead. Every single one of them."

"SHUT UP!" Kidd screamed, and punched the stone wall. He was livid. Red clouded his sight as her words echoed. They couldn't be dead! She was lying! Especially not Killer!

"They're dead!" she crowed, laughing insanely while clapping her hands. "Yes! They're dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!" She whirled around and around, changed direction and headed towards him, wrapping herself around him in a circle. "You should be dead too," she said, observing him. "But you got lucky. These wounds, they're Cyrine's work aren't they? I recognize her style! Fufafafafa!"

Something flickered in her eyes.

"Of course she let you go..." she chuckled, amused by something. "You had that crewmate of yours with you. I saw him on your ship, I did! Guess what? He's dead too!"

"Shut up!"

"He's dead!" Kentra repeated, as if once wasn't enough.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Taking all his rage and strength into one fist, he swung at her abdomen and sent her flying. Yet, he never got to breathe with the satisfaction he'd hoped for when her fly slowed and stopped. Blood dribbled out the corner of her lips as she looked up, stunned.

"You hit me," she whispered. "How were you able to hit me?" Her face twisted as the answer came to her. "I know why! You have _that_ color! You have that power! Now, I _must _kill you!"

"I don't give a fuck!" he snarled. "Where's Killer? If you're not going to tell me, then get the hell out of my way!"

She crackled like the witch she looked like. "Your Killer is dead! Give it up and die too!"

He clenched his bleeding jaws and readied his fists once again. "If you say that he'd dead one more time, I'll fucking kill you! I'll kill you a thousand times over until you wish that _you're_ dead!"

Kentra tossed her head back and laughed crazily as if that was the funniest thing that she had ever hear.

"Cyrine! Of course he's dead! Cyrine, that bitch! She won't let someone like him live!" She flew off the ground and proceeded dancing her bizarre twirls. "You want to know why? I'll tell you! That wench! She murdered her own husband! She raped him, fucked him to death before tearing his heart out from his chest, and ate it! But do you know why this is so funny? Do you know why your Killer is dead by now?" A deranged grin formed on her face as Kidd felt his stomach lurching. "Her husband had a head of the most beautiful blond hair. And she loves to relive it- the time that she had him under her control. She'll treat him good, and then she'll kill him and eat his heart too, your crewmate, that is! That demented, cannibalistic, _syphilis-infected_ nympho will never let him live!"

His mind was racing, but even so, the emphasis didn't escape his ears.

..._Syphilis?_

He stilled. He didn't know what it was, but the sickened tone that this mental hag had used to speak it was enough.

Kentra sneered. "She'll take him, kill him, and devour him, piece by piece."

_Killer!_

* * *

Blood splattered on the inside of Killer's mask, running through the air holes, dripping down on the ground. His entire body trembled as he struggled to hold himself up on his hands, and froze as the woman gripped his neck and yanked him up, her fingernails digging into his flesh. She looked at him with excited eyes, like there was a face that she knew where his mask was. Too tired and beaten to even move, the blond gulped and waited, trying to muster up whatever strength he had left.

Cyrine's gaze grew soft and distant, her face relaxed into a sad smile, and she touched the mask.

"You look so much like him," she said breathlessly, causing him to edge away. This didn't concern her. "You feel like him."

She stroked down his neck and slipped a hand into his shirt, peeling it apart. The restrained fear within him broke out once again, and he leaped up and swung at punch at her.

She easily grabbed hold of the fist and threw him off before chuckling bitterly. "You even _act_ like him!"

The rough surface of the ground bruised his body again as he hit it, and Killer swallowed hard as she approached him again, wondering how he was going to live another moment longer. She was too strong, her Haki was too powerful, and she was a Devil Fruit user. No matter how vulgar this woman seemed or how revolted he was, she'd been part of a King's crew- a King who'd been to the New World. There were plenty of reasons why he wouldn't live. But most of all, she scared him. She scared him more than he could ever imagine anyone doing.

"I'm beautiful," she spoke up. "I was the only faithful one. I was pure. I was young. I gave him my entire fortune, my body and heart. I made him whom he was, and I waited for him. So... Why? Why wouldn't he love me?"

He shuddered at those words, trying not to remember. This was psychologically impossible already.

_"Why won't he love me?"_

Maria.

_Her._

At the reminder, Killer flinched; he hadn't truly thought about _her_ in years.

"Why won't you love me?" Cyrine asked, stepping closer.

"Get away from me!" he snapped weakly, and coughed out another mouthful of blood.

She drew back, the look of resentment in her eyes intensifying as her expression hardened. All traces that triggered the unwanted reminders were gone, and for a moment, he was thankful; he couldn't bring himself to harm her if they had not. Still, a moment only lasted for what it was- a moment. He shouldn't have been relief.

A shadow fell over her eyes as came a step forward, and spoke darkly, "I will make you love me!"

She lunged for him.

_BOOM!_

The stone ground broke into pieces just as Killer pushed himself to safety. Crouching on all fours as pebbles showered, she looked at him with the hungry, piercing look of a she-wolf, and licked her bloody lips. Not wasting a second, the masked man scrambled onto his feet and sped for the doorway, determined to escape this time.

Needles stung his blood and the blood burned his muscles. She roughly pushed him down, pinning his limbs as he raged in the mist of the mind-numbing agony and the full knowledge that she had him. He continued to bleed, the crimson liquid pouting out of wounds that he didn't even realize he had. Her teeth was bared, and near his face. Her fingers tangled with his hair and pulled, the other hand wrapped itself around his neck, choking him, ten-folding the torture. She breathed on his neck, and that was all the warning he got before her fangs penetrated his skin, causing him to scream.

She drank. At the same time, her power got to work, sending his blood moving. His groin stirred, and he felt himself harden as her Devil Fruit stimulated the psuedo-erection, the heat and the pleasure, withdrawing pain. His cock strained his pants as she pulled away, lust glistened in her eyes and flushed her face, and he couldn't help but to notice with repulsion at the fade remnant of half-healed sores around her mouth.

Then, all of a sudden, she looked different, and began acting different. Her hands, before had restrained him, now aimlessly groped and touched him. Her gaze now wandered from him. Light disappeared from her eyes as she turned this way and that, whimpering. She reached up, and grasped nothing but air.

"Where are you?" she whispered. "I can't see you."

His erection lessened, and his senses returned to as normal as someone's senses could get after so much blood loss. Still beneath her, he observed, tensed as she placed a palm against his chest. _She's going blind? But why?_

Then she lurched forward to the side with fearful eyes, and clutched her chest, sobbing as she covered her mouth. Taking this chance, Killer forced himself out as she vomited out blood and pieces of human hearts, and backed away from her, who was shaking so much that it seemed as if she was having a seizure.

"No... Not yet," Cyrine choked out, and looked up at him. "I won't die yet. Not before I take you with me!"

Even in her condition, Killer still couldn't keep up with her pace as she dived for him. His skull stung and cried with pain as he was slammed against a wall. With her whole body trembling and her chest heaving, and raised up a claw-like hand and _struck_.

He screamed as she drove her nails into his chest and dug her fingers in further. Reaching in, closing around his beating heart, ready to tear it out and-

She stopped. Her body slacked.

He didn't know how it was even possible, but he could hear her heart beating louder than his own.

_Th-Thump...Thump thump thump...THUMP! _A long silence followed that loud beat, then, as if a weak attempt to sustain itself, it thumped one last time, and stopped.

He took her hand out of him, and pushed her away. A soft thud of her body falling on the floor resulted.

_What the hell had just happened?_ Was Killer's immediate question as he slumped down and leaned his head back with thankful relief, one hand over the holes around his heart that she'd made, the other covered her bite mark on his neck. He breathed deep, only to have the exhalation turning into a soft sob.

Shame was his very next reaction. _How am I suppose to face Kidd?_

The second question have just as little answer present as the first.

_I told him to go away._

It had been a spur of the moment decision. Now, nothing but regret came out of it, yet, deep down inside, he knew that he would feel even greater remorse if he were to have done anything else, or let Kidd see anything that this wench might have done to him. Kidd had an image of him, Kidd had a picture of One Piece, and he would let nothing in the world to destroy either. Kidd will become the Pirate King. He wouldn't allow anything to corrupt him or get in the way.

The fear still remained.

Now her...

Without a regard for the dead, he used a foot and nudged her body. No movement.

Had she really died? But why?

_Blindness, insanity, faded wounds of sores on her face... Heart failure?_ He hesitatingly put the last one in_._ The numerous dead bodies of men filled his vision. Men- all whom she'd slept with and killed. Though he kept telling himself that there were plenty of other reasons why and that he was jumping to conclusion, with deduction of the symptoms, only one thing came to mind; syphilis.

"No...No," he muttered frantically to himself as he paled. "That couldn't be it..."

_She bit me!_

"Ridiculous!" But it fit.

He clawed at his neck, kept trying it convince himself otherwise but just couldn't pull away from the thought.

_She bit me!_ he repeated.

Was it still contagious? _Her lips were bleeding! Her blood and mine... _He wanted to throw up.

Did it have a cure? He tried to remember. Yes, yes it did! Then, as if some higher power was mocking him, he realized the chances of him finding the cure- she certainly wasn't treated-, or if they could even get out of here alive. This was the Hell Kaiser's crew, and the Red Lady was only one of them. The others in her crew could've easily killed his nakamas.

Terror and dread filled him.

He got up and ran as far away from there as he could.

* * *

"Little devil!"

Chevy held his breath, and didn't dare to move from his spot. He was pressed into a narrow space between two large boulders, squished and confined. But at the very least, he was safe from her the time being. Staying quiet and still normally wouldn't have been so hard.

His whole entire body was covered in rash. His skin was beet red, swollen and the itches screamed to be scratched and relieved. Yet, he knew that if he even tries to, she would not only hear him but he'll probably never be able to stop. There were already some places where his nails had clawed his skin raw and bloody. Plus, the mere thought of what will happen to him once she caught him was enough to terrify him into silence.

"You think that you're rather clever, don't you?" he heard Ivy snarl, and the vines uncoiling and whirling in the air like whips.

He didn't know how he found the wits to get away in the first place, only knowing that he was lucky to have not let go of the dagger which he'd used to cut loose of himself, much to her surprise. He now squeezed the handle of the blade as he closed his eyes and prayed to some deity up in heaven.

The plant monster tramped into this section of the tunnel, her roots slapping against the damp ground. Her arms grew and lengthened, snaking upon and across rocks, hugging the walls. Leaves sprouted along the way as she scanned the area rigorously. "And you are..."

_Make her go away!_ Chevy pleaded to that same deity.

The vines touched the boulders in front of him, and began dividing. Brilliant ivy leaves sprouted. He leaned back just a little, couldn't help but to shake.

"Ahahaha!" she laughed.

He immediately stilled, and turned white.

"GOT YOU!"

The vines whooshed towards him.

_Now! _He tugged the transparent string attached to his pinky as he leaped out of the way, rolling on the ground into the open just as rocks raining on Ivy from above, and ropes, thinly veiled, lifting up from the ground and formed a net. They shot across the air with incredible momentum and tied themselves, trapping her person.

The woman roared with outrage as he ran from her grasp again, her vines circling around the components of the traps to try to get to him. Chevy ran out of the way into the darkness as one missed him by centimeters.

Second time that this had happened. His stamina was failing him by this point, his mind was failing him, and the infection all over his skin was giving him hell. More importantly, he was starting to run out of equipments and ideas. She wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and his pouch felt way too light for it to contain any valuable tools. There was only so much time he could buy.

His stomach growled, and he clenched his teeth at the rumble.

Hopefully, she'll take long to get untangled.

He twisted and turned, finally stopping, panting like mad. His lungs felt raw and his throat burned every time he tried to swallow. The pouch landed with a thud, and the teen fell onto his knees instantly, rummaging through the junks for anything that might save him.

_Until I can find someone,_ Chevy thought, panicking more and more as he thought about Mustang. If this woman was like this, there was no speaking of what her comrade might be like. _What the hell are they even!_ Until he could find his older brother, he told himself, and the others too. Boss will take care of this! Kidd was strong! And Killer-san and Hiroki-san too! They'll take care of this!

That was, basing on his false notion that Ivy and Larcen were the strongest one here.

He didn't know that his notion was false, didn't want to believe it.

"Yarns, mouse traps, matches, candles, ramen pack, bug spay..." he muttered, tossing one thing aside after another. No more strings, no more ropes. Nothing durable enough.

He gathered all this up and started running again.

_'Poison' Ivy._ His face itched. _Ivy..._ He remembered contacting a poison oak when he was little while camping. He wasn't really scared when he got the rash, but he's scratched that place enough to bleed. And now... He balled his hands firmly as the infection screamed for contact.

If he gets caught, she wouldn't just infect him- that part had already been done. She'll kill him, choke him to death. _What am I suppose to do against someone like her?_

_Poison ivy, an infectious plant._

"YOU WILL DIE! DIE!"

Chevy's heels screeched to a stop as her voice rang out from behind.

_A plant. You cut plants. You also..._ What Hiroki had done on Bleu came back to him, and he felt stupid enough to slap himself silly for not seeing it before, when Mustang had used the same tools just then before the separation.

_Of course!_ Laughing with relief, he dug into his pouch once again, and took out a candle and the matchbox, standing on quivering legs as the quaking sound told him that she was coming, and closing in quick. _Phiss!_ The match lit, and he set the candle to burn. Then came the bug spray, which he shook frenziedly as he watched the vines arriving. Positioning it, he started a countdown.

Three.

Two.

One, and-

The toxic chemical sent a ball of flame bursting into her face. She reeled back, shrieking.

He dropped the bottle and the candle, watching her burn and cry, and finally understood. Maybe it was pragmatic to think so, but he couldn't really care at the moment; true, what Hiroki-san done was wrong, but it felt fucking great to be able to hurt your enemy and see them suffer.

Chevy allowed himself a small grin, of consolation and pride, as she thrashed madly in her own ashes, picked up his things, and left.


	46. Of Lies and Liars

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _quiveringflame, A, Dfletcherboyy, kiku90,_ and _Fluffy_ for reviewing!

I started reading Black Butler a few days ago because someone told me that Hiroki reminded her of Sebastian. I've never heard of the series before. Then, when I visited my friend's house, she had a copy of volume one laying around, so I made a note to check it out but never got the chance until recently. Now, I'm not going to make it a secret; the basis of Hiroki's characterization is a caricature of the typical dark, stoic fictitious Anime guy. You can find him in almost every single Manga existing. Yes, he's so cliché that One Piece has him too: Rob Lucci, Nico Robin (a female version), Law, Hawkins, and Drake (from their screen time so far) are just some very obvious examples. Each personality has its own twist, but essentially, the skeleton is the same. However, Sebastian...Oh my blueberries, he's so fucking like Hiroki that it fucking scared me when I read Black Butler- from the black outfit and hair to the "I won't tell a lie" attitude. It makes me uncomfortable so I'll be working on changing that because even _caricatures_ shouldn't be this similar. (Yes, Hiroki is purposely exaggerated, and originally meant to satirize the real stuff, though I ended up not bothering with the satirizing part and just went with my writer's instincts. Too troublesome and I'm too lazy. -.-')

Another special feature of Kiku90's art, who drew a picture of Killer studying. You really awesome, hon! Here's a link (or just check my profile if you're too lazy): http : / lizzimedz. Deviantart. Com/ art/ Killer-Writing-190314891

I'm surprised at how easy this chapter came out, considering that last chapter was like eating chunky peanut butter to write. I'll be taking some time after this to get started on people's Christmas presents though. I'm way behind (Working on it, Clover-chwan! D:) Yes, I am evil. (A late) Happy Holidays to you wonderful bitches, bastards, and people! XD

* * *

"NOOOOO! I TAKE IT BACK! IT'S NOT YOUR STEPDAUGHTER! WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Too late.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_ The consecutive explosions broke apart the bed, cracked the walls and knocked down various candle stands. Chuckie zoomed around the room as fast as his little legs could carry him as the okama followed close behind, creating pointless havoc as he missed the boy over and over.

"Little pest," Narcisse said under his breath as his foot blasted apart his own closet, sending clothes flying in every direction. "Look at the destruction that he's causing. This shall not be forgiven!"

Said pest was left no chance to defend himself against this unjust accusation.

From a third person's perspective, this scenario was quite entertaining. It looked like some sort of a game- how long could he keep on running before the okama catches him. Jump! Score two points. Dodge. Score five. Cartwheel! Score- No, he didn't have time to do cartwheels, although that would be cool.

Chuckie knew that he obviously wasn't going to win in a fight. He wasn't stupid. Anyone who could easily kick apart things like that could easily knock his iron bat out of his hand and end his life right then and there. It wasn't a happy thought, nor encouraging, and so his mind raced in search of a different approach as he struggled to survive to level two- I mean... to survive.

The boy's heels screeched to a stop in front of the giant mirror, swiping a perfume bottle off the table and-

_Pisssssssssssss._

A cloud of sparkling pink dust was sprayed straight into Narcisse's face as a strong scent of coconut and lavender took over the breathing air.

Chuckie blinked and looked at the bottle in his hand._...How was that suppose to help me again?_

A low growl escaped from the man's throat as the cloud dissipated.

_Uh oh,_ he gulped, eyes darting frantically for an escape route. Shadow fell over his entire being, and he looked up to see the man towering over him with a murderous look on his face, looking fully ready to crash down on him and squash him into a pancake. He squeaked in fear, and fell on his knees, eyes popping out of their sockets. In the spur of the moment, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh, great, beautiful overlord!" Chuckie shouted, throwing his hands up in the air much to Narcisse's surprise and confusion. "How my eyes have wronged me before! What foolishness had I spoken! For how can I not see the truth, the glorious truth who stood so majestically before me! I beg for your generous mercy! I bow to you!" And he bowed.

A corner of Narcisse's lips lifted up into a mocking sneer. "Oh? What is this?"

"O' beautiful one!" the boy continued, clasping his hands together as he gazed up at the okama with obviously fake tears streaming down his cheeks. "Words cannot describe the goodness that you've bestowed on this sorrowful world, for your mere existence is the meaning of life!"

This sounded very, very pleasing to the man, who stepped back, both corners of lips curling up into a maniacally happy smile. "Go on."

They said that too much was never enough, and so, dramatic to the extreme, Chuckie thrust up his hands in a knightly stand, a hand over his heart, and proclaimed as if he was speaking to a god of some sort, "Tis' true! The most beautiful of them all is you!"

It rhymed. Give him some credit, will you?

Narcisse howled with laughter, and with a stride, stepped in front of the mirror.

"Well said, ugly brat!" he crowed, never taking his eyes off his own reflection. Then, he leaned closer, as if seeing something that he hadn't before, and leaned away, looking mighty pleased that whatever new discovery made. "I _am_ beautiful! Just look at me! With my skin as pale as snow, my lips as red as blood and my hair as black as night, I am without a doubt the fairest in all lands and seas! My mirror tells nothing but truth!" And with that, he began caking his face with powder. "No woman or man can compare to me! No one!"

"Of course..."

Tears of pain streamed down Chuckie's cheeks as he turned away from the conceited, deranged drag queen. _I never thought that it's be so hard to tell lies before!_ He weeped, feeling rather sorry for himself.

"Which is why I will survive."

_Huh? _Chuckie snapped out of his temporary self-grieving. _He's not done with his speech yet?_

"That's better..." Narcisse cooed as he smoothed his cheeks one last time and set everything aside, petting his hair. "Vuvuvu!" He suddenly grinned, his eyes shooting wide open. "She died! She died!"

_Wait, who died?_ The boy thought alarmingly, and too, looked at the mirror that had so entranced the okama. He jumped back with bewilderment and fright, couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The reflection was changing, the colors blurring and shifting as a different image came into place. He disappeared from the picture, and so did Narcisse. What showed up instead was a completely different room. A room of dead bodies of men, piling on top of one another like little mountains.

He paled and felt his stomach lurch, threatening to vomit whatever content within.

The mirror finished the change, and revealed what Narcisse was laughing at all along; a beautiful redheaded woman on the ground covered in blood, whose unblinking green eyes were looking straight back at them. It took moments for Chuckie to register that she, too, was dead.

"Vuvuvuvuvu! Finally!" the man shouted. "She died!"

"Who...?" He felt too nauseous to speak.

And why was he laughing like this?

"I've waited long enough!" Narcisse said, staring at the corpse in the mirror with triumph. His teeth bared, and his lips stretched back. His pupils shrunk until he looked nothing less than pure madness. "It's starting now. Vuvuvuvu..."

Chuckie shivered on his spot, never hearing anything creepier as that laugh trailed and died in the air. His eyes glanced towards the closed chamber entrance, and wondered to himself if he could make a quiet escape while the okama was deep in thought. He shuffled away, and kept on watching cautiously.

"'I will bring Hell on Earth!' Heh, that's why we followed him. Where we came from, we murdered, we killed and we were shunned. And he accepted all of that, he embraced it, and he promised us to take over the world- a world where we'll reign over the rest of them worthless bastards. And the title of the King of Pirates was all there is to it; rule the oceans, and you'll rule this world! Oh, Ante-sama, Ante-sama! How charming a proposal!"

_He's a pirate?_

He didn't want to listen, but it was impossible not to. His curiosity had perked up, and out of carelessness, almost stepped on a piece of broken glass. For a moment, the boy wondered to himself of just how he was going to get the entrance way open again. How was someone suppose to open solid rock? Perhaps he would find a handle somewhere- he didn't see any though. Sadly, his attention dispersed as quick as it had gathered.

"Vuvuvu... Yet, we never recovered. For twenty-two years, we hid from the world like roaches would from the light. We lived like rats. How we've fallen! For twenty-two years, the only thing we did was wait. We wait for each other to die off. The seven of us, rotting away with the only entertainment of seeing which one of us would die first, who'd die second, who'd die third... It's like a spiral down to our own destruction!"

Chuckie was near the stone door now, still with darting eyes, looking back and forth between his captor and his only exit.

"You know, brat, this is like a domino effect."

The boy jumped and spun around and backed against the wall as Narcisse gazed at him with a smirk.

"Uh... I was not trying to escape," he lied. It was a nice effort.

"Like dominoes, you push one, and they all fall," the man went on as if he didn't hear Chuckie say anything at all. "Cyrine died. Whom do you think will die next?"

He didn't know what to say, only looking a little bit sickened by the question. _That woman in the mirror was his crewmate, wasn't she? Why is he talking about her death like it's a game? She was his nakama!_

"Strike one."

A twinge of annoyance surfaced. He didn't even know the name of anyone in the okama's crew! "Oi-"

"Strike two."

Chuckie bit down his tongue and thought it over. At least he knew one thing; the answer wasn't his stepdaughter.

So, it must be...

"...You?"

Silence.

If he thought that it was bad before, then nothing could describe the fury on Narcisse's face now. He got no time to regret it.

A hand tugged violently on his Afro and lifted him into the air before he could even move, and he screamed from the pull on his hair roots, feet paddling wildly in the air, trying to run- though it was impossible.

"No," the okama hissed. "I've decided. _You_ will die next-" "Wait, I'm only nine!" "-Just like everyone in your crew has!" "...What?"

Chuckie stopped his struggling at what he'd heard. A dreadful coldness froze his inside.

"Wait...WHAT?" he screamed, this time with outrage.

He knew that whomever they were, this crew of pirates must strong. There was a big snake! Camry-niisan had told him to run! Still, Boss, Killer-san and Hiroki were differently stories. They were strong too! Them dying was impossible! But did that mean that his brothers...?

_No..._

He didn't dare to finish that thought. Didn't need to. The worst had already been done. His lower lip was already beginning to tremble as a surge of heat flushed his face. His mouth was scrunched. His hands were fists. His eyes watered. His breaths started to come out shorter and shorter.

Narcisse watched with cold, narrowed eyes as the brat he held hiccuped once, then twice, then...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The wail was ear-shattering.

"NO! NO! NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE! LIAR! LIAR! NII-SAN! HELP ME! I DON'T WANNA DIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

The man clenched his jaws at the unbearable noise, and gripped tighter on the head, as if he was going to crush the skull. The pest was hysterical. His arms flailed and his body flopped with kicking legs. He had grown men peeing their pants and begging for their mothers like little children before, and such a show was enjoyable, even laughable. Their fear increased his blood-thirst. What he never had was a real nine year old acting like this; it was nothing less than obnoxio-

_BAM!_

He dropped the boy in surprise as an iron bat collided with his head. Taking the opportunity, Chuckie ran towards the entrance way, and pounded his fists against the stone, sobbing on the top of his lungs. Nothing budged. He didn't like that, and with eyes glistening with frustrated tears, he proceeded throwing the biggest temper tantrum that he'd ever thrown in his entire life.

"I WANNA GO HOME! I WANNA GO HOME NOW! WHERE'S MY BROTHER? I WANNA SEE MY BROTHER!" The bat in his hands swung without direction, smashing upon rocks and crumbling pebbles to dust as he jumped and stomped his feet, left to right and back again.

Usually, he got his way. Usually, doors opened for him, the other kids handed their toys over, his older brothers bought him what he wanted. Usually.

"You noisy brat!" A hand suddenly grabbed him around the neck and _hurled_ him.

He flew towards the mirror, screaming as the throw was sending him head first to the glass. His life flashed before his eyes. This was it, this was- And the glass liquified, rippling like water as his body passed through it. He heard huge splashes, saw cold steam rising from below, and felt a chill in his bones from the icy breeze. His upper body was in mid-air.

"WHAT THE HELL?" As quickly as he'd shouted that, Chuckie reacted and grabbed the edge of the mirror frame, digging his nails down as he attempted to hold on for his life, dangling. All tears were scared dry by this point. He was speechless.

"Vuvuvuvu! I see everything that goes on. I see nothing but the truth. As long as there is a mirror, I go where I please." A foot stomped on his hand. "The miraa miraa no mi," Narcisse said, half emerging from the other side. "A mirror never lies!"

"...Who- Who the hell hangs a mirror over a waterfall!" the boy criticized. Perhaps he shouldn't be so cheeky at a time like this.

The foot crushed down harder, making his knuckle bleed. The sharp heel pushed for him to let go.

He gulped, mustered up all his courage, and closed his eyes. The grip on the frame softened, the-

_BOOM!_

Chuckie's eyes flew open. _Huh?_ As quick as lightning, a hand shot through the glass, grabbed his wrist and pulled him up roughly. He yelped in surprise as the pool started to solidify half way through. Half a second later, he tumbled back onto hard, rocky ground, rolling twice before sitting up, only to find his iron bat severed in half, the other end falling on the other side of the image, which was blanking out fast.

"Who the hell are you?" Narcisse's wrathful voice drew his attention back. The boy spun around.

"Brat, run when I tell you to."

All color drained from Chuckie's face. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Instead, a low chuckle rang from the okama's place.

Narcisse's eyes were bloodshot with crazed delight. "Vuvuvu...Blond hair, blood? How masterfully done! Cyrine's work is quite admirable! I've always enjoyed seeing her products, but this! This is the best that I've ever witnessed- this one still lives!"

"Killer-san..." he whispered.

Red soaked the masked man from head to toe. His shirt and hair plastered on his body, as if he was sweating the blood. His stand was wobbling, and there was a dreadful stench of rotten flesh about him. There were also holes in his chest, as if he'd been stabbed. From what Chuckie could see, someone in such condition shouldn't even be alive.

"...What happened?"

* * *

Stepping onto Campbell float, Kidd had thought before that Grand Line would be a piece of cake. He'd remained unimpressed, even slightly irritated by the lack of excitement up until he fought Rosier, and even that soon faded. To tell the truth, he didn't know what to expect because he'd never thought into it. Who cares? As long as he could become the King of Pirates. What he never anticipated was the possibility of dying. Careful wasn't big in his vocabulary.

Now, it was too late to be big.

A huge gush burst open on his chest. Cuts lined without pattern on his skin as he was blown around the cavern, hitting walls without warning and being tossed around like a toy. The pain was incomprehensible. He was deaf to everything, blinded by white dots in the mist of red.

_Not Killer._

"FUFAFAFAFAFA!"

_Where's Killer?_

It was the only thought he managed to hold on to.

_BAM!_

He couldn't die here. He needed to become the Pirate King first.

Kidd didn't know how much time had passed. His senses were distorted beyond comprehension, but that glint of consciousness was just enough for him to realize that Kentra had stopped. He felt himself crashing into the ground, the explosion ranged like a distant chime of a bell, and rocks landed on his person.

It took a while for him to feel, another while for him to hear, then to see, and finally, to twitch his finger in order to assure himself that he was still alive.

She was still above him. The wind was still here, but slower. Her delirium was slowly going away, and the upper part of her body froze, alerted.

There was a soundly tap of a footstep, making her flinch.

Someone was coming.

Could he turn his neck? Kidd commanded his sluggish body with a sluggish mind, and forced himself to move. There was the footstep again, a dramatic, slow stroll of a king making his entrance. A King... Perhaps the only person who could still someone like this madwoman- her own captain.

An enraged expression was forming on her face. He wondered why.

A man emerged from their right.

"Well done, but you should finish your job faster if you dislike my interruption, Kentra," a cold voice said.

Even like this, Kidd still found himself gasping with confusion. _How is this...? This man...This isn't him!_ He remembered the Hell Kaiser's bounty poster. The color was fade from the years, the camera was nowhere near the advancement of today, and the picture was dim enough, but whatever color it was, Ante had dark hair- a middle-aged man with a demon's grin.

This man, with a hard, stoic light blue eyes and a head of silver that were definitely not from old age, looked not a day older than thirty.

But the aura around him spoke different. In a way, it almost reminded him of Killer's when his first mate got angry; he could suffocate if he'd let his guard down. Except this air wasn't cold, and it was just _there_, whereas Killer needed to be provoked_._

"How dare you show your face around me!" Kentra shrieked.

"Some nerve you got, talking back to your captain like that." Yes, it was him. This confirmation only confounded Kidd more. What the hell was going on?

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" She was livid. "YOU DARE TO CALL YOURSELF MY CAPTAIN? YOU'VE LOST THAT RIGHT, ANTE! YOU LOST IT A LONG TIME AGO! _SHUT UP!_"

A large piece of stone rumbled the ground as it fell. Dust washed over Kidd's breathing air, causing him to cough. This didn't seem to distract the madwoman any from her rage, but the noise was enough to catch Ante's attention, who glanced down at his limped body as if he was a mere roach, ignoring all the quakes and rock showers, unmoved by the hurricane-speed wind.

_How can he stand so calm? She's rampaging!_

"Quite a riot, isn't she, little rookie?" he asked with the smallest hint of sarcasm. "Enjoying the show before your death?"

A bubble of anger arose within him. "Shut up," he snapped faintly, clenching his jaws and fists. "Where's Killer? What have you done with my crew?"

"You shouldn't worry about that," the King muttered back, turning his sight towards Kentra once again. "Perhaps, you should remember your prayers, and hope yourself a journey to Hell."

The fire flared more. "Where's Killer? Give him back to me! If he dies, I'll kill you!" It was an irrational threat, but he didn't give a fuck at the moment.

"Hmph..." Ante smirked and walked past him.

"Don't laugh at me!"

It was all in vain. Disregarding Kidd as if he didn't exist, the silver-haired man headed closer to the lunatic above, and lifted a hand. Pools of silver threads shot out from his palm towards her, unraveling and wrapping themselves around her as she raged. And she raged further as they caught her waist and her limbs, spinning her. A minute later, the thread sealed her final scream, and fell down onto the ground, the prisoner confined.

Kidd watched as the silver cocoon quivering, and could faint muffles of her voice from within, giving him an idea of just how strong the imprisonment was- if she were free, the sound would have been deafening.

Then it stopped, ruffled once, and burst open. Kentra dove away, fleeing until she hit a wall, and slumped down, gulping the air.

"Fuck you, bastard!" she snarled, holding her head up with a quivering hand. "I'll never forgive you! You can't bind me! I'm the wind! I'm suppose to be free! You know that I have the power to kill you! You know it! I'll kill you and you know it!"

The smirk only widened.

"You told me before it all started," she went on in the same snarl, standing up, never looking away from him. "That if you become the King of Pirates, you'll give the New World to me! You'll let me destroy as I like! And that I can kill anyone I want! You promised me that ocean!"

From his place on the ground, Kidd shuddered at the thought of someone of her power and wrath in control of an ocean.

"We were winning! We had it within our reach! SO WHY THE HELL ARE WE HERE? WHERE'S THE HELL YOU PROMISED ME? WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT!"

No answer. No change. The smirk kept widening with each passing second.

"YOU LIED TO ME! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!" She was rising higher and higher, the wind growing increasingly violent. "I COULD'VE RULED THE WORLD MYSELF, I COULD'VE OVERTURN THE WORLD GOVERNMENT JUST AS EASILY AS YOU SAID YOU WOULD! WHY WON'T YOU DIE!"

The wind cut as her rage rang the highest, smashing the cavern walls apart.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!"

And nightmare consumed Kidd.


	47. Live or Die

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Black Sky's, Fluffy,_ _Dogychou_ (extra death-hug for you! ;D ...And sorry about the late update! T_T),_ Kiku90, is, Skadi Skadi no mi, anonymous_ and _Cloverskeet_ for their wonderful reviews!

And a big thank-you to _Skadi-san_ for the dedication on DA! It's a parody of the canon-Kidd pirates posing as the Shichibukai (Colored version coming soon?)! Your artwork is as wonderful as always, dearie! Link: http: / Skadi-Skadi-No-Mi. deviantart. com/ art/ Shichibukai-Parody-lineart-191547710 ...Or my profile, if you're lazy.

Not my New Year, but (a late) Happy New Year nonetheless!

Edit: Phff- Once again, I feel stupid. -.-'

* * *

Ren had exactly three-fourths of a second to congratulate herself on a job well done. The next one-fourth of a second, she was underground, chewing through the rocks and rising up to deliver another bite before diving under again. It was very hard work. Very hard indeed. She would nod to herself in agreement, except that it would be very difficult to nod and eat rocks at the same time. Usually, she wouldn't eat rocks- eating them would give her stomachaches unless they were shaped like houses- but Camry-san was in trouble! With that thought in mind, she ate faster.

Where had she been? That was good question, because even she did not know the answer.

Truth to be told, she _was_ following Chuckie, but it was difficult following him because humans were so slow and she kept getting ahead of him and had to wait for him to catch up. When he finally did, he didn't even stop and apologize for keeping her waiting, but just ran past her, which ticked her off somewhat. One had to understand; they were trying to run away, and he was making it very hard on her! So then, after the millionth time of stopping and waiting for him, she decided to put her time to good use and do some hunting until he catches up, and found a really beautiful, glistening clam shell.

It was sparkling. And shiny. And mesmerizing.

She was entranced as she picked it up with her mouth, ogling at the beauty. It was the most glorious, captivating shell that she had ever came upon.

She named it George.

As she was naming it George, Chuckie had ran passed her. So after done praising George of his beauty, she turned around and couldn't find her youngest master. Confused as to why, she decided to head back and show Camry her new shell, completely forgetting about why they were running away in the first place.

Which was how she found Camry like this.

George dropped from her jaws as she lunged forward and bit down _hard._

Now, after submerging under ground and popping out of the hole made, she turned towards the great snake above her and blew a raspberry towards him.

"_Insssssssssssolent dirt-eater!_" he hissed at her with rage, moving rapidly. A tail came crashing down on her, breaking the ground apart and sending her flying, squealing. "_I will teach you to oppossssse me!_"

"REN! WHERE'S CHUCKIE!" the human on the ground shouted. Dripping with purple venom, he crawled closer, coughing. She barked and was about to slither to him when a huge wall of scales shot between them, cutting her off.

The Mamba grinned down at her. "_That human issss already dead!_"

"_That's not true,_" she corrected. "_He's still talking. And you made me drop George! You're mean!_" She stuck her tongue out at him again. "_And I don't eat dirt! I eat houses! My favorite kind of house is a straw hut._" She paused to think about why it was her favorite kind as the serpent encircled her. _"It taste very crunchy, plus the shape is really easy to eat! My friend back home said that igloos are better, but I disagree because igloos taste cold and crummy, like a sand castle. My next favorite kind of house is a long house, but I only had them in cookies. They're very long to eat and taste like how buffaloes smell with a bit of granite. Some times, they're spicy too; the longer they are, the spicier they are. But I still think that straw huts are better because it tastes really crunchy and the shape is really easy to eat-"_

_"ENOUGH!"_

She stopped, shrinking under the roar. "_Sorry._"

"_You annoying little bonelessssss worm! You dared to bite me!"_ The beast coiled around her at lightning speed. His head raised, and bulleted down.

_BOOM!_

_

* * *

__Where is that little bastard!_ Out of the one hundred and fifteen years that he'd been alive, the Black Mamba had never felt this kind of agitation or anger as he stared down at the spot he'd just attacked, only to find, in the dead center of it, a hole. Ren had escaped back underground.

His beady eyes scanned the silent cave carefully.

_Chomp!_ A sting shocked the middle section of his body, causing him to whirl around, snarling.

How could she? His skin was tough as leather, his scales stronger than steel. He could easily gobble her up if she wasn't so fast! Yet she continuously defended this... His gaze traveled down to the poison-covered, barely-conscious, pathetic human on the ground; his food. Never mind her! The hunger within him spoke, booming over all other instincts. He will feast first! He will hunt down that child from before! He'll get all the other unfortunate humans who'd fallen into their territory! That little worm was no worries!

And with his mind set, his tongue flickered in and out as he loomed over Camry, opening his mouth-

_Chomp!_

The Mamba hissed, swiping his head around and more.

"_Where are you? WHERE?_" he howled.

"That idiot..." the human on the ground muttered weakly. "REN! I TOLD YOU TO RUN!"

_Chomp!_ This time, his back, and as quickly as it had came, she was gone.

"_I got lost!_" the worm admit to her human, her bark bouncing off the wet walls, never minding that Camry probably couldn't understand her in his condition. Using the source of the echoing, the Mamba lurched towards place where was was mostly likely at, thrusting his head into the rocks, breaking apart pieces. She came up two feet away and bit him just below the jaw. "_I made a new friend! And now I'm hungry!_"

With an infuriated howl, he swung his entire body. "_You will come out here right now or I'll kill the human! Pessssssst! I will devour you!"_

A tiny head popped up from the ground and a small tail, too, popped up just behind it. The tail wiggled at him in a merry manner.

_BOOM!_

_Chomp!_ Where?

She popped out of a wall, barking at him to catch his attention. Rage fueled him so much that he didn't even notice their increasing distance from the injured human on the ground, who was trying with all the strength he had left to get to the worm. Outraged, the Mamba slammed his head against the hard wall, not even seeing her shrinking back. His skull cracked the hard stone into pieces. The tunnel shook by his strength, and boulders tumbled down from the slope in front of them, ambushing him unexpectedly.

The solid wave pushed. Rocks of all different sizes hit him everywhere on the body. He thrashed, met some dead on, and was drove back again and again.

When the wave had settled, the lower half of him was buried, and dust clouded the air as he screeched.

Ren's head popped up in front of him, and chirped, "_Wow...That was amazing, wasn't it!_"

* * *

Camry lay further away.

Even though the cave itself was dim, he already knew that he was going blind. He wasn't crying, but because of the poison in his eyes, tears were running down his cheeks, following the streak path of the venom as he lifted one hand after another, crawling to his weapon. He wasn't doing that good of a job moving.

The small avalanche had missed him, but Ren...

_That stupid worm..._ Where was Chuckie? Why was it just her? And if she died... He forced a cough to distract himself from the thought. _Why the hell did you come back!_

His entire body was numb to the bones by this point, barely able to perceive the bark in the distance. But he could still move, even if it was just a bit. He only hoped that "a bit" was enough.

The Mamba suddenly roared like thunder. Whatever that was happening, he was sure she wouldn't live through it.

"Woof!"

"_HIIIIIAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS_!" It wasn't of anger- but pain.

Camry stiffened at the sound, turned his head the best he could, and gasped, wondering if he was seeing things again.

The serpent had just torn his own tail off. _How..._

Ren jumped into the air and bit on the end of the bleeding flesh.

He guessed that fury overrode everything. Enraged, the snake, trying to catch her, bit down at itself again, tearing another piece off. Red blood ran like a river from the missing tail, past the human. _WHAM!_ shook the entire cave as she disappeared into the walls, causing it to ram its head against the loosened stones over and over again. More boulders showered.

Just like that, he saw the Mamba slowly weakening, blinded by rage, bled dry by the wound as it stubbornly chased after its prey.

_BOOM!_ Blood spilled from its head.

It wobbled, howling, and with one final attempt to capture Ren, fell face-flat.

"Woof!"

He watched, stunned as the little worm slithered out from the hole she was hiding in and towards the dying serpent, who hissed at her. Seeing this, she huffed, rather displeased at the rudeness, and turned her back at the larger legless coldblood before giving a snobbish "hmph", her head held high and proud as she strutted away for a few feet, and dove under once again.

_But it's not dead yet..._ Camry edged toward the single discarded boomerang in front of him.

* * *

It took her a while, but she found George. Barking with joy, Ren picked up the clam shell delicately between her teeth and gazed down at the shining, sparkling object lovingly. It looked almost as great as Killer-chan smelled, she decided, fluttering her long eyelashes as she coo-ed at it with adoration. So beautiful, so sparkly, so shiny and so... Did she say sparkly? She did, didn't she? Oh well, once could never be enough!

But alas! The abuse that the shell had taken was great, and such shell was fragile.

George cracked into pieces.

A question mark flashed on the top of her head as she felt the cracking happening, and settled George down in front of her, only to be presented with the sight of him fractured.

Overwhelming grief flooded her, and in such emotional state, she wailed and immediately crawled back up to the one responsible for the fragmentation of her new-found love.

She bit the Mamba angrily and slithered over the the stirring serpents face.

"_You suck!_" she told him, a harsh, heart-breaking statement that she never thought would come out of her mouth, but harshness was needed; that'll teach him!

"_You little..._" the Mamba hissed back faintly, lifting his head off the ground just an inch. "_I sssssshall finissssh you!"_

"_Fine, but you have to say you're sorry first!_" she protested, laying her scattered friend in front of him. "_Meanie! Look what you've done to him!"_

He raised his mouth, looming above her as she stood her ground, refusing to give in until George gets the apology he deserved. Realizing that she wasn't going to move, the snake laughed, arose higher, and plunged down-

_WHAM!_ A boomerang struck the side of his jaws, knocking him out.

Ren flinched back in shock and looked to where it had came from, only to be hit with more shock as the sight made her realize something.

Why, of course, she forgot about Camry!

Completely disregarding George, she ran over to her human master, barking with excessive happiness at the sight of him standing, looking down at her with- Oh, never mind, he fell down just now. How silly of him! Nonetheless, she was glad to see him, and to show that, she began racing circles around him, cheering.

"Don't touch me, Ren," the cook whispered just as she was about to head closer and rub herself against him, shivering on the ground. "I'm covered in poison. You'll die."

"...Ooo?" she replied, cocking her head to the left.

He chuckled. It sounded sad to her ears, making her wonder why.

"Good girl," he said.

Even with her bad eyesight and the darkness, his human eyes appeared strange to her. She leaned closer to his face to get a better look. They were dim, lacking the gentle spark that were usually in them. This information troubled her.

"Tell everyone..." he went on, closing them. "That I'll miss them..."

"_...Why?"_

But he didn't answer.

Ren pulled back, feeling a little confused and hurt that he didn't answer. She was all right, wasn't she? And she taught that big meanie a lesson. Plus, she made a new friend, though that didn't really matter now that George was in pieces...

She shrugged and proceeded circling him once more, waiting for him to wake up.

* * *

Thin silver strings shot out of nowhere like bullets, crisscrossing above him as rocks showered like hail from Kentra's windstorm. Kidd tried as he might to get on his knees, to move his arms, but even with adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream, his body was way too tired to collaborate with his mental commands. He collapsed once after another, determined to get away from the madness and find Killer before he could get killed between their fight.

A first mate fighting her captain. A first mate who hated her captain. A first mate who wanted her captain dead.

"DIE!" she shrieked, shredding apart wave after wave of the web threads.

But why couldn't she harm him yet? With a Devil Fruit power like hers against him, with such anger, why were her attacks still rebounding?

_She hates him. _Kidd clenched his teeth tight, dropping his head just as a thread shot past him. A boulder landed centimeters away from one of his hand, nearly crushing it. _Killer does_ not_ hate me!_ he told himself as the blond's voice told him to leave again and again. Why would he do that, if not hate? Why- No! There was no way. _I'll find him, and then- _BOOM!_ -I'll apologize! I'll explain to him!_ His eyes were watering and his breathing sounded rugged to his ears. _He can't hate me!_

"You RAT!"

Everything froze at the harsh snarl.

A force of wind suddenly snatched him into the air and slammed him against the jagged, rough wall. Pain resounded through his entire body as he was tossed back onto the ground like a ragged doll.

"Think you can run away from me!" the woman screeched. "I'm not done! I'm not done with either of you! Everyone will die; I'll make sure of that! I'll kill every single one of you!" Her eyes rolled over to the Hell Kaiser, who met her gaze with equal madness in his. "You lied to me. You were weak. You lied..."

"Hehehe..." Ante chuckled. The newly-formed webs glimmered as silver and cold as his eyes.

Then, in the mist of all that, the single rat spoke. "Let me go."

"You cannot defy me, Kentra," the King whispered.

"SHUT UP!"

Kidd closed his eyes and gulped down a mouthful of blood. _Let me go... I want to see Killer._ He crawled further. The movement did not escape the madwoman's notice. A force of wind blasted him off the ground, throwing him even further away.

"You are just as trapped as he is."

"_SHUT UP!_" The wind bellowed as she screamed. "_YOU CAN'T TRAP ME!_" _BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_ The earth rumbled at her wrath, descending the surrounding into absolute chaos.

"Shall I kill her?"

The question was asked so out of the blue that Kidd didn't think that Ante could be talking to him. He moved his head up slowly, glancing at the silver-haired man out the corner of his tired eyes, waiting to see what he was about to do.

"I asked you, rookie, 'Shall I kill her?'" the other man repeated calmly, unfazed and unmoved by the madness that was currently going on. "She's getting annoyingly noisy."

_WHAM!_ A boulder as large as house broke off and landed in front of them, scattering dusts everywhere. The redhead coughed and wheezed, spitting out more blood as his inner organs throbbed in pain from the involuntary movements.

"Kill me?" the woman spat, looming closer to them. Her face was flushed, with ghastly eyes and a pulled back mouth with white, thin lips. "Fufafafa! You want to kill me? Who the hell do you think that got you to where you were before you fucked everything up!" She snarled, and averted her eyes straight from her captain to him. "Go on, brat! Tell him to kill me! TELL HIM!"

But all that came out of Kidd's mouth was, "You can't kill me."

He couldn't tell if this was his brain speaking for him, or just desperate nonsense pouring out.

They narrowed their eyes.

"You can't kill me," he said again, a shadow falling over his eyes under their dangerous gazes. "I am going to become the King of Pirates. I can't die here." What an impossible and preposterous thing to boast right now. His teeth clenched. "Let me go!"

The silence that followed could kill him just by itself. He couldn't breath at all.

"The King of Pirates?" Kentra echoed in the most monotonic, dead voice. "_You_ want to become the King of Pirates?"

_...Is she laughing at me?_ A faint flame of anger began burning.

She started laughing. "That's what he told me too!" She backed away, shaking her head and pointing a finger at Ante. All traces of amusement faded. "He told me so! He said the same thing to me years ago! And where the hell did that all go? King of Pirates, don't fucking make me laugh! Ha! King of Pirates indeed!"

He saw the other man raising a hand.

"Dreams, what dreams! What visions? Nothing but bullshits!"

A thin string shining under what little dim light emitted.

"He reminds me awfully of you! It'd be best to rid the world of your kind, Ante! WEAK, USELESS FOOLS!"

The job was soundless. Numbness washed over his entire being as he witnessed it happening.

This was the picture of the next instance; her body hung limp in mid-air, like she was a puppet forgotten by some disorganize puppeteer, left out in open. Kidd watched from below with terror trembling in his eyes as her wide, gaunt pupils stared down at him, blood dripping from her throat down to his face. Then, the next moment, something sliced right through her neck, taking her head off, and down the two parts of her fell, the body landing first.

On the ceiling, red droplets decorated a loop made from a single web thread.

He had really killed her. Kidd faced the standing man. He had killed his first mate so effortlessly and carelessly.

"The King of Pirates... So you want to become the King of Pirates?" Ante hissed at him, his skin beginning to turn black, hardening into an exoskeleton. The younger man choked back a horrified breath as the figure in front of him grew and mutated. Two extra set of arms shot out from the Hell Kaiser's side, ripping through the clothes. "So you want to become the King of Pirates, Rookie!" The voice got inhuman, the shadow looming, getting larger and closer. The legs thinned, the body swelled and proportioned into that of a spider. A huge, unnatural monster, with two eyes splitting into two, and then two more.

Kidd had learned of this. A thought of way before ran through his mind- Killer had made him learn it; there were three classes of Devil Fruits in the world the Logia, the Paramecia, and the Zoan.

_This is..._ He paled with realization as the sickening sounds of flesh rearranging and growing filled his ears. _"Rarer than Logia, and by far the most powerful sub-group, or so it's proclaimed,"_ Killer had once told him.

_ A mystical Zoan!_

He had scoffed and had waved it off. _"Feh, how bad can they be?"_

If they were so rare...If they were so powerful...

He hadn't known terror nor truth.

_"You will die going up against one."_

_Killer! Help me!_

"SO YOU WANT TO BE THE KING OF PIRATES?" the Hell Kaiser crackled.

Straight from nightmare, from Hell.

The eight eyes stared straight into his soul, stealing his will.

"No! Just give me Killer!" he cried in the rawest, hoarsest voice he'd ever heard himself, terrified tears poured from his eyes as he scrambled to get away. He couldn't even care about the humiliation now. "Give me Killer and let me go! I don't care about gold! I don't care about fame! Just give me back Killer!"

_BOOM!_ The impact shattered his last vocal. The spider's shrill laughter pierced his ears as Ante loomed over him, transformation completed. "All for one person! Where's your dream! Where's your determination! You coward! Hahahahaha!"

_BOOM!_

_No._

"LIVE OR DIE!" the monster roared with wild laughter as one of its sharp legs drove itself into Kidd's chest, speaking the words that would remain forever engraved in Kidd's mind. "A WEAKLING LIKE YOU WITHOUT EVEN THIS MUCH RESOLVE-" His heart contracted. "-SHOULDN'T HAVE BECOME A PIRATE IN THE FIRST PLACE!"


	48. With Strings Attacted

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Kiku90, Skadi Skadi no mi, Cloverskeet, Savage Valentine, anonymous, NoctisStella20, Fluffy, Dogychou_ and _silverblood13_ for reviewing! :D

I can't believe that I'm finally done with this chapter, or that it took me this long! I kept getting side-tracked and stuck. T'was hell... (Pun intended) Just so you know, this chapter, despite my hard work, turns out shitty and is probably the worst chapter that I've written so far, and I know this is shitty because I put a lot of effort into it. Everything I bullshit, people likes, yet everything I put effort into just plain sucks. What is life trying to tell me here? ._.

A big thank you this time goes out to _NoctisStella20_, who drew Hiroki (over two weeks ago *Smacks herself*)! Here's a link: http:/ glowingnights. Deviantart. com/#/d36izf8 As always, link in my profile too if you're too lazy to copy and paste. You people are really too wonderful to me. I feel bad not able to give you something better back.

Holy Hell, Madam Shirley! *3* ...I'm beginning to think that Sanji's perversion is contagious.

* * *

"Vuvuvu..."

White dots clouded his vision. If one could see behind his mask, one would see a pair of white lips, dry and drained of all signs of life. One would see a face covered in red, the color dripping down his chin and creeping out down his neck. One would see a pair of exhausted eyes. He was tired and beaten. Still, no matter how he looked, it didn't matter, because the enemy couldn't see behind his mask. His weakness was covered, he told himself as he struggled to stand, _More or less_.

"Killer-san, what happened to you?" he heard Chuckie ask behind him, but chose to give no answer.

His wounds felt numb. Moving his tongue, all he tasted was blood.

"Where's Boss? Why are you alone? I saw him fall with you! He's still alive right?"

His head pounded. His chest tightened.

"Where are my brothers? Oi, Killer-san, you're alive, right?" Chuckie pleaded with white fear.

His heart ached.

Narcisse's mouth pulled back into a teeth-baring grin as he watched the barely breathing blond man in front of him, and laughed again his signature laugh. "I congratulate you, Masked Man!" he slurred. "It's not everyday that a victim of Cyrine lives! Though, you're close to death, aren't you?"

"Brat, run," was all that came out of Killer. "Get out of this place. Now."

"Oi, oi, that's not very mannerly, young man," the okama complained, licking his rouged red lips. "Joining the party, and now you want to chase other guests away? That's unacceptable! You came here, you follow my rules!"

"I don't have time to entertain your muse, 'Mirror Queen.'" he whispered, fists clenched by his side. The other man in front of him leaned back, expression getting more and more wild with each passing second as he listened to Killer speak. "I believe that you already know what's going on. My crew is beaten. We'll be dead, if we're not already-" "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, KILLER-SAN?" He ignored that. "-You can have your kill, but let the boy go."

_Stand, stand._

He waited, shutting out Chuckie's madden screams of "THEY"RE NOT DEAD! YOU'RE LYING!"

A low chuckle escaped from Narcisse's throat a minute later, and the older man looked up, straight into the speaker's faceless mask.

"'Mirror Queen' huh? It's been years since I've heard that title! Who is it referring to again? Ah, yes, I remember! It belongs to me! The World Government gave that title to me after I took the lives of a whole kingdom on Grand Line! The old times! The grand times, I remember them! Vuvuvuvu! ...You've got a lot nerves, rookie, telling me what to do, whom to kill!" His eyebrows twitched and shifted up and down as his expression danced with a series of amusing emotions. "Of course, I'm going to finish what Cyrine didn't, but who said that I'm not going to kill the brat as well? You don't bow before me and praise my beauty! Do you believe yourself better than _me_? Preposterous!" He spat on the ground near Killer's shoe. "Answer this! WHO IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON IN THE WORLD?"

"I said, 'I don't have time to entertain-"

"Strike one."

A dense silence followed. Neither said anything as Killer's eyes narrowed with a surge of new energy from annoyance and anger. "Chuckie, you run right now."

"NO!"

"Strike two."

"I SAID 'NOW'! THAT'S AN _ORDER!_"

"Strike three."

He barely had time to jump aside as a kick swung for him, missing him by milliseconds. Narcisse leaped high into the air by the miss, spun, and came crashing down for him, sending tides of pebbles scattering everywhere. Through all this, all Killer could do was dodge the best he could.

"Chuckie!" he shouted the moment he set his foot down again, looking around for the boy. He didn't have time for that either.

_BOOM!_

_Damn it._ Chuckie was no where to be seen. _He better not be..._

"Don't overestimate yourself, brat!" He didn't see it coming. The foot hit him square on the chest, the exact spot where the Red Lady had dug her claws into. A painful spasm throbbed his heart and his bones shook as he flew backwards, hitting the mirror, going through the mirror like the glass was water, and-

With a quick movement, Killer grabbed onto the frame and pushed himself back out, landing on his feet, panting heavily to slow down his racing heart.

He didn't have his scythes. Attacking was near impossible, and he was already near his limit.

_How much can I take?_ He questioned, closing his eyes. Surely, Chuckie had ran by now. He saw no sign of the boy anywhere. _How am I suppose to fight this man?_ A foot struck him on the side of head, bringing him down. The okama then carelessly and purposely stepped on and over him in favor of his mirror, the sharp heel digging into Killer's ribcage.

To keep going like this was suicidal, and he knew it full well.

He also knew; he had no one to blame but himself.

_I asked for this._ Couldn't breath properly. _I shouldn't have dragged them down with me. _Under this sort of circumstances, what were their chances of living? What were the chances of them seeing each other again?

What were the chances of seeing Kidd again?

The question left him both tormented and relieved, and he understood the reasons behind neither. Didn't want to. His head hurt just from the thought of that redheaded idiot who called himself his captain, his heart ached like it was going to break into two. Almost immediately following, a dreadful wave of mind-numbing fever washed over.

Subconsciously, Killer grabbed his neck, and clenched the bite mark. The touch stung the wound, and he suddenly found it hard to swallow as realization from the reminder crept on him.

He could be dead or insane by next week.

_If I live that long_, a somber voice reminded him. It was a completely unreasonable conclusion. Syphilis needed longer to successfully infect the victim, he knew that, but so what? Why did it matter now?

His inner being was a turmoil of conflicts as he lay shivering on the ground. A part of him wanted to die- because of shame, of disgust, of the traitorous feeling that just wouldn't leave him alone, of the inevitability of having to face Kidd again after this. He didn't want to do it. How the fuck was he suppose to make every better? At the same time, he didn't want to die- for this crew, this dream. They still had a long way to go. They were nowhere _near _their goal. What face would he have left to show to his mother in afterlife if he breaks down right now? What pride could he still retain? Dying- he feared the very notion itself. It wasn't an option.

_But what options do I have?_

He wanted to see Kidd.

It was a very strange desire to have at a time like this, but it was what it was. He wanted to see Kidd, he wanted to apologize, to explain and straighten things out. If their dream of finding One Piece would come true, if he could fulfill his promise, then they couldn't continue to be like this.

_If Kidd isn't dead yet._

At that statement, his heart pounded like it was going to burst apart, and the blood rushed to his ears by the rising fever, making his skull drum like thunder. He felt as if he was going to die.

Above him, Narcisse was fixing his make-up, a snobbish, pissed look on his face as he patted his cheeks with powder and darkened the eyeliners around his eyes. Seeing the movement, the man set down the things in his hand, glancing below at the blond man on the ground coldly.

"What? You're not dead yet?" he drawled.

Killer lay still, gathering up strength.

"Vuvuvu! This is very unusual! You should be dead by now!" Then, as quickly as he had paid heed to Killer, the narcissist turned his attention back to himself, slicking his perfectly gel-ed black hair back before muttering, "Why, I am beautiful! Simply glorious! Worthy of God's stature!"

What could he do? No weapon, no power. What could he do?

"My beauty shall be greater appreciated and upheld!"

And Killer made the mistake of looking into the mirror.

He gasped, his oxygen flow stopping with shock as his eyes fixed on his own reflection. A strangled cry choked from his throat the next second.

"After all, my mirror shows nothing but truth!" Narcisse declared, and smirked down at him, knowing exactly what was going on as he asked in a smaller, more composed voice, "Isn't that right?" His smirk widened as the man on the ground went quiet. "Tell me, what do you see?"

He didn't answer.

On the other side of the mirror, the helmet mask had melted off, the blue sinking into his skin, the white closing his mouth, his nose, and his eyes, becoming part of him. At the same time as he watched it happening, he felt something layering over his face.

The feeling tickled, it flickered, and set his face on fire.

It burned!

Killer erupted into screams as the flame ate him away, couldn't keep his eyes off his reflection as it devoured his new blue and white face, twisting the features. His eyes shifted places, one dripping down as his skin morphed, wavered. His lips were burn off, one half sealing together, the other half ripping even more as the cry struggled to get out. His hands flew to it, but couldn't touch it for some reason. The nightmare wouldn't stop.

"Vuvuvu!"

He was being deformed.

_This isn't real!_ A part of him cry.

His left eye, the pupil on fire, was nearly down to where his lips used to be.

_This isn't me!_

His face was an image of a monster.

Killer tore his eyes from the mirror with force, pushing himself away in the frenzy.

Cold sweat soon drenched his already bloody clothes as he shrunk into himself, trembling. A shaky hand brought itself up and grasped his mask, gripping it as he tried to steady his breathing. No, it didn't melt into his face, it didn't burn. He coughed to hide a sob, and closed his eyes- both in their rightful places. _It wasn't real._

_This man is a Devil Fruit user. Hallucination by manipulating my reflection- that's part of his power!_

A sharp heel dug into his shoulder, and he looked up slowly into the shadowed, macabre face.

"Punishment for not recognizing my majesty," Narcisse said. "I am the most beautiful being in all lands and seas, with my skin as pale as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as night. Even the blind can see it! My mirror tells nothing but the truth, vuvuvu!"

"Lies..." Killer spat.

The laughter died the next instant, and a weighty silence tensed to air as the masked man's glacial aura emitted.

"Your mirror only shows you what you _want_ to see," he spoke on, clenching his jaws. "You are far from the fairest."

_WHAM!_

He was slammed against the mirror. An icy hand of long fingers wrapped around his throat, twisting his body so he would face the looking-glass. Killer paled as the same deformations reappeared, and screamed over and over in his mind that it wasn't real, but convincing himself was very hard. It suddenly felt real.

"Let me go!" he snarled, although it came out as "Mmooph Mmph", like he was speaking out only one side of his mouth

His sight was distorted, the two fields of visions no longer matching. The okama's face appeared beside him, and his eyes snapped wide, surprise piling on top of frozen shock.

True, like he'd predicted, the way Narcisse saw himself was nothing like how he really was; the merciless black-haired man looking back at both of them was exceedingly, even inhumanly, handsome. And inhumanly surreal.

Killer's fury went ballistic as he thrashed against his hold.

"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SICK BASTARD LIVING IN YOUR OWN FANTASY!" His mouth hurt from screaming, the sealed side tearing apart. "NONE OF THIS IS REAL! GIVE ME BACK MY FACE! DON'T INVOLVE ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I LOOK LIKE!"

"You're right," came the whisper. "None of what's there is real. Vuvuvu... How hideous you look! Ugliness is a fearful thing, isn't it?"

Killer felt something budging under the skin of his neck, trying to poke a way. Invisible pain suddenly stung him all over.

_What is going on?_

"A mirror cannot lie!"

In the reflection, they broke through Killer's skin from the inside.

Maggots.

Overgrown. Hundreds and thousands of them. Crawling. Eating.

"And if it's not true, then I will make it so!"

* * *

_I am not useless!_

Beneath the heavy rubbish and behind Chuckie glossy, tearful eyes, determination driven by anger shone like it had never before within him. There was an advantage, he decided, in being small and young. If he'd been any bigger, there would've been no room for him to squeeze through.

The attack from before had thrown everything distance away. Not too far, as he could still seen the light from the chamber up ahead as he scrambled out from beneath the pile of rocks and wood. There were splinters stuck inside his fingers, and something warm was trickling down the side of his head. Paying attention to neither, he threw aside his iron bat and rummaged through the trash for anything that might help.

Killer's furious shouts snapped his attention away.

Without thinking, he grabbed a candle stand and ran for it.

* * *

_Don't look at it!_

But with sight lost to the Devil Fruit power, other senses quickly succumbed. All Killer could hold on to the was knowledge that this was merely a hallucination, and if it would only end badly for him if his conscience falls into the trap as well. By this point, his deformed face was full of holes from the infestation of the parasites.

_Don't look at it!_

"By comparison, I am far more beautiful than you, than anyone! Can't you see that now? Vuvuvu!" Narcisse tightened his grip around the other man's neck, never looking away from his pseudo-image. "Look at yourself!"

"That's not me," Killer tried to say; it sounded strange, since only the left half of his mouth was moving.

The okama responded nothing, the smirk on his face only deepened and darkened with menace. In front of them, the reflection shifted again, liquifying. A wave of heat blasted into Killer, clogging his nose and overtaking the oxygen. Fire shot up and out, licking his shoulder blade as a haunting laughter began, his captor pushing him forward.

The masked man flew into a fit of hysteria. He twisted around with new found strength, grabbed Narcisse and hurled him toward the pit of hell flame. Immediately, the mirror solidified, bouncing the Devil Fruit user back. The ground exploded from the impact of his landing, throwing Killer off balance.

"Don't fuck with me!" he spat, fully capable of moving his mouth without the trance, and leaped. "I'm not going to die here!"

He was a little too slow. Injured, scared, and his stamina failing him, Killer was-

"TAKE THAT!" Chuckie socked his target with the head of a candle stand in the gut milliseconds before he reached him. "AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT TOO!" _Wham, wham, wham!_ The metal hit Narcisse on his face over and over. "AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT THAT! AND THIS! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THIS! AND THIS TOO! AND- N- NO, WAIT!"

"_Fucking pipsqueak!" BAM!_

A foot collided with the man's lower jaw, sending him flying against a wall as a hand shot out and snatched the boy from mid-air before he could fall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Killer shouted at the boy.

Chuckie flinched. "I was trying to-"

"You could've died!"

"But-"

"I told me to run!"

"But... You're nearly dead too! You're even _deader_ than me!" he protested, tears welling up in his eyes. Nobody corrected him that "deader" was not a word. "And- " _Hic._ "And if I tell the boss that you died, he'll-"

_No!_ "Shut up!"

The boy flinched again, and flinched even more as the masked man body trembled.

Underneath his mask, Killer breathed deep and closed his eyes in frustration.

"We're not going to die!" What the hell was he even saying?

Yet, despite all the doubts and the overwhelming physical and mental pain, his mind raced, raced and raced for _something_ to back up his promise.

"That's a stupid wish for a time like this," Narcisse hissed as he stood up, his head hung low, and hidden. "Vuvuvuvu, of course, you'll die..."

Killer's head pounded, his person staggering as he attempted to take a step forward.

"I've figured it out," he muttered.

"...Hm?"

"You shouldn't be here, but you are anyway...

"Marc D. Ante has been to the New World already. The Hell Kaiser's no small time pirate," he continued, the picture becoming clearer. "He created destruction and despair wherever him and his crew went. He was notorious for his insanity, his arrogance, and his love for attention. He's a man who fought equally with Gol D. Roger. He's not a man who hides or cowards. So, when he disappeared over twenty years ago without a trace, everyone assumes that he died. But... if he's still alive, then why is his crew here?"

A lift of lips. "I see..."

From across the room, only a widening smirk was visible. Chuckie listened even though he didn't understand what was going on, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the okama, puzzled; Narcisse's face was chipping away.

"'The Red Lady' Cyrine, she'd died, unable to fight her disease, and the rest of you you... All seven of his commanders... You no longer possess the kind of strength that you once had. You can't fight or terrorize the way you had before."

No reply, but the smirk was still there.

"Your crew is done for, isn't it? And your captain knows it."

"No."

Killer narrowed his eyes.

"Ante never cared about us. It's about him," Narcisse said, lifting his head. The two paled and stepped back, stunned, and Chuckie realized just what was falling from his face; make-up, layered over years, now cracked and broke like a mask, revealing what it was hiding. "Now you're probably wondering why we haven't left, huh? All of us want out. Living here like roaches cowering from daylight? Ah... I remembered when Ivy first tried to escape... She could've succeeded if only she could swim! Vuvuvu, how she paid for that!

"You don't understand him, rookie. We do. We're dying, yes, but so will you."

Fright rendered Chuckie nearly speechless. "His face... What the hell happened to it?"

"Vuvuvu! Too bad for you, because I'm not like the rest of them!" The dried make-ups were almost all off, crumbs falling. "I do not grieve. I care as little for Ante's vengeance as he did for us. I live and love only myself! And I will be the most beautiful, no matter what it takes!"

If Narcisse were to be the most beautiful, then Killer felt that no other human being would exist. The masked man wanted to cover his mouth, but with his helmet in the way, all he could do was hold down the urge to vomit as the face ultimately unveiled itself. Beside him, Chuckie cheeks were puffed, probably trying to prevent the same thing. Skin was missing in patches, leaving dry, rotting flesh exposed, the right nostril was somehow... destroyed, torn. There were some wounds and burns that he couldn't find to words to describe, and really, he preferred not to.

Taking Chuckie's candle stand, he attacked.

The metal clashed with a high kick, and still in the air, the okama swung three more kicks, breaking the stand in two and landed a direct blow at Killer's chest. The blond's heart and the surrounding organs throbbed in pain as he flew backwards, crashing into a pile of stone. The wounds from before resounded.

_BOOM!_

"NO! I'M ONLY NINE! AAAAAAH!"

_Shit..._

"Into the mirror you go! Vuvuvu," the man laughed as he approached the looking-glass with the boy in his grip. "Have a nice journey; I will see you!"

_No!_ Killer pushed himself up and lunged, swinging the two halves. "You leave that kid alone! I'm your opponent!"

And then it happened, and happened too fast.

Silver light burst from above as faint, whooshing sounds whipped through the air. He barely had time to comprehend what was going on before knocking Chuckie out from the okama's grip, and ran for their lives as strings shot from all directions, cutting off strands of his hair just as he dodged and jumped, clutching the boy close.

They landed crashing onto the rough ground a second later- at the same time, it stopped.

Killer released Chuckie from his hold, turning around cautiously, heavily breathing.

And froze.

Petrified did not begin to describe it.

Narcisse's bloodshot eyes stared right down at him, a ghost of a last smile lingering on his face. Then, the body started dragging downward by gravity. A line of red oozed out around the neck, and little by little, something cut through, separating the dead man in two pieces. The body fell first, and the head landed on top of it.

All color drained from Chuckie's face. For a moment, the two survivors was frozen wordless.

A thin, transparent thread hung in a loop, dripping its victim's blood.

"How...?" the boy whispered, unable to finish his sentence.

A grim feeling crept and stirred in his stomach.

"The Hell Kaiser..."

_But why?_

"Killer-san, look! The cobwebs on the ceiling are nearly gone!"

* * *

Kidd was so sure that he died. For a split second, he'd lost contact with all senses, himself dimmed and faded into a place of utter blackness and lull. Then, as quickly as that mindless comfort had came, it went, and he resurfaced, his being on a whole another dimension gasped for conscience like air. He could make sense of nothing. Sound, touch, sight, smell, taste swam aimlessly and blurred, but he knew that Ante was doing something. His body didn't feel right, like he couldn't fit into it.

Something was tugging him, distorting his home.

_Intruder!_

The universe seemed haywire to him as the strange force sucked him towards it and-

He was thrown into a whole different world.

Kidd felt himself lurching forward in this dream-like state. His hands were in front of him, strings tied around his fingers-

No, wait. _These aren't my hands!_ He soon realized, and attempted to voice it, but couldn't move his mouth. _What the hell is going on?_

"FUFAFAFAFA!" A hurricane had raised an impermeable wall of water around the island.

_Her? _That was Kentra's laughter no doubt. _But she died!_ He couldn't turn to take a good look, and even if he could, other things quickly distracted his attention.

The scene was a bloody battle field. Out the corner of his eyes, a burst of glaring orange fire set an entire area aflame as men ran from a blur of blue. Just in front of him, a red-nosed, clown-like boy was screaming as green vines wrapped around him. The vines led to a green-haired, near-naked woman, who laughed deliriously as the clown-boy scrambled to get away from her- and doing a rather sloppy job as his body kept separating and coming together, separating and coming together... A giant snake snatching up men, crushing them like toothpicks. A fountain of blood spurt from the other side... _That Red bitch?__ What is this?_

Kentra flew down and swung a wave of wind at a person. ..._The "Dark King"? _If he could gasp, he would. _This is-_

"ANTE, YOU BASTARD!" _BOOM!_

A low laughter spilled from Kidd's throat as his new containment turned, and soon, he was staring into the face of Gol D. Roger.

_...What?_

"Never thought that I'd catch up, did you? Just watch as my commanders and crew crush yours! Grand Line is mine! I won't let you have it, Roger!"

_Then this is Raftel?_

_I'm in a memory!_

Seeing the face on bounty posters was one thing, seeing the Pirate King in person was another. All Kidd wanted to do was gape, and go forwards, and ask all the questions that he'd never even dwell on before; where's One Piece? How did you become the Pirate King? You've met a girl name Maria, right? Do you- ...No, he reminded himself, never mind, he wouldn't get any answer. He wasn't part of this place.

Roger's lips formed a wide grin as his eyes burned into his enemy's. "YOU'RE STILL GOING DOWN!"

And before Kidd could see anymore, the force ripped him out.

Everything went soundless as he drifted into anti-space. Then, far away, a voice rang, and what had happened hit him like bricks; he'd seen a memory from the Hell Kaiser's mind, which could very well meant that...

Leaving the thought there, fire flared within Kidd's system as his remaining control snapped.

_Hehehe... _it chuckled, like it saw something amusing. _I see now._

_WHAT THE HELL? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?_

_The King of Pirates... I know why now... It's all for _him_, isn't it?_ An image of Killer flashed through his head. _You made a promise to become the King of Pirates, not on your own whim, but his._

_GET OUT! GET OUT!_ Kidd raged.

_You desire him, that is all. What a foolish motivation!_

_SHUT UP!_

The voice sneered at him. _You are no pirate._

_**SHUT UP!**_

It was a soundless tear, yet deafening. The incredibility of the whole experience was unexplainable, and Kidd didn't bother with it as he watched the monstrous spider shrinking back to a humanoid form, the twisting black flesh coloring out and shaping itself until the King stood before him, not a hair harmed on his head while the younger shivered breathlessly on the rough ground.

"There are many that'd came to here with that same silly notion that they'll find Roger's treasure and rule the seas," Ante began. "There are many that died for having such a dream. I was merciful. Why let them go on a path that'd only create nothing but horror for them? This so-called One Piece does exist, yes, but..." His lips pulled back into an eerie little smile. "...Not the way that anyone thinks."

Kidd coughed, wishing he could press down lower under the cold eyes.

"And no one can have it either, because One Piece is destined for _me_ alone, but _you_..." He leaned closer despite the other's effort to get away as far as possible. Not even finishing his previous statement, he started a whole another subject. "You were called the Devil's child, yes? Do you understand why?"

"Because some shithead of a pretend-prophet said so, that's why!" Kidd spat, glaring up. "What? You can't mock me for that! You're a devil, yourself! Go back to Hell and leave me my crew!"

Ante's eyes flashed, and the force suddenly plunged Kidd into a bottomless sea.

The webs sung in light.

* * *

_BOOM!_

Coins showered. Gold broke into pieces. Priceless artifacts, gems, and whatnot scattered as the attack from the diamond blade carved a path, splitting apart the walls. He ran like a rat for his life, pass one mountain, dodging behind another. It wasn't just one room, he found, the treasure mount seemed endless, taking up several tunnels. But that didn't matter.

_That man is insane!_

Clutching the stump that used to be his right arm, it was an understatement to how he really felt. He didn't dare remove the grip for the fear of causing himself even more pain once the wound exposes to the cold air, not that it was helping with the blood loss.

He had to find _someone_, and do it quickly.

"Chachingchingching! HA!"

A sharp blast of white light and wind flew past him and down the tunnel, exploding a second later. The force knocked Mustang off of his feet. Balance lost, he fell onto the ground- the impact from it resounded the pain of his wounds. He looked up just moment later to see the path being sealed up.

_Shit!_

"What is this?" Larcen questioned out loud, stepping behind him with the sword. "Oi, oi! Why aren't you fighting back like before? Don't tell me that Ivy really picked the good one this time? She always sucks when it come to choosing- it's hard to believe!"

"It's- It's unreasonable to assume that I can fight back, you bastard! You already cut my arm off!" Mustang shouted, and coughed. The metallic taste flooded his mouth.

"Then just fight with your other arm."

"YOU INSENSIBLE ASSHOLE!" Mustang barked, his action and anger rather contradicting his words.

"Chachingchingching! I change my mind, you are interesting after all!" Larcen declared. "Not many people who lost an arm can keep going so lively like you! You don't feel the pain?" He smirked. "This should make it a hell a lot more entertaining!"

Could he not feel it? What a ridiculous question! Of course, it hurt like the judgment of God itself!

Somewhere, Enel sneezed.

But it wasn't the time to mourn over his own misfortune. First, he needed to get rid of this jackass. Then, he needed to find his brothers- especially Chevy. If anything happens to Chevy, there was no way he could live with and call himself a big brother. And if he still have time after that, they'll look for a doctor. He could hold on until then, couldn't he?

The sword shimmered as it whirled in the air.

"Let's see how long you can last," Larcen said, and brought his blade down.

_Jump!_ Mustang commanded himself, leaping away as the lightning-quick attack split the road. Landing safety, he began to speed down the opposite direction.

"CHEVY! WHERE ARE YOU?" he shouted. "CHUCKIE! CAMRY! REN! BOSS! KILLER-SAN! HIROKI! RUN, THERE'S AN INSANE MURDERER ON THE LOOSE! OH, AND GET ME A DOCTOR WHILE YOU'RE AT IT! HE CUT MY ARM OFF!"

Back by the spot, the swordsman hadn't moved an inch, listening to the bellows echoing down the tunnels as his prey got away from him. Larcen shifted his feet and dragged Akira off the ground, a shadow falling over his eyes. With no training and no combatting partner for years, he seemed to have slowed down quite considerably, or maybe he was just in boredom. The only thing worth a second of his time was his money, anyway. Who would give a fuck about anything else?

But this petty rascal...

"I cut off a limb and he's still able to run around like this," the man muttered. "Is he crazy?

"Hmph, doesn't matter. He touches my gold again, and I won't miss next time! Chachingchingching!"

* * *

Two minutes in, Mustang had to stop.

He was only human after all. There was so much he could take, and now as he held on to the stump that had connected his left arm, he wondered just how much that "so much" was. The surrounding was getting rather hazy and dim, and his touch with consciousness fading.

"Damn it," the man cursed under his breath. "Where the hell are they all? This place couldn't be that big! BOSS! KILLER-SAN! HIROKI! CAMRY! ...ANYONE? CHEVY, YOU COULDN'T HAVE GONE THAT FAR! ANSWER ME!"

If there were crickets, he would hear them chirping.

"How am I ever going to get out?" he wondered.

There was a rumble.

"Huh?"

The walls split apart without warning, the cut made just above his head, slicing off a few strands of unfortunate hair.

_Holy hell!_ Panic surged once more, his feet pacing to race, but before he could take off, the madman himself jumped through the falling rocks in front of him, dicing up a boulder along the way.

"You're not going anywhere," Larcen said. "Chachingching! I am given an order to kill, and you must die. You're not getting lucky! I cut off one of your arms already; you should bleed to death soon enough!"

"Phff- Heh..." Grinding his teeth together, Mustang still couldn't hold it. "HAHAHAHA!"

"How dare you laugh at me!" the miser snarled.

"Why?" He spat out the unwanted content in his mouth, grinning. "A person like you will never understand. All you probably do is sit there counting money, or killing people! You probably never experienced joy once in your life! I feel sorry for you!"

Veins formed on Larcen's darkening face. "_You_ feel sorry for _me_? What the fuck are you talking about? Joy? Why do you need that when you're rich!"

"So what if I lost an arm?" Mustang went on. "I've lost plenty of things in my life! I lost both of my parents! I lost friends! I nearly lost my brother Camry once! I lost his paychecks that he'd worked so hard for! I lost my only toy train when I was twelve! I've seen things come and go! Losing them doesn't keep me from being happy, so what's an arm got on them! There's nothing worse than being an apathetic closed-off jackass who doesn't care about the world! You can cut off my other arm, and I'll still laugh in your face!"

The diamond blade instantly flew for his neck and his eyes popped wide open.

"Oi, hold it-" A dodge.

_WHAM!_

"DON'T TAKE ME LITERALLY, YOU SON OF A BITCH, I WAS ONLY DOING IT FOR THE EFFECT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE INSPIRED!"

That didn't go well either.

Mustang watched the sword, but not the feet. A kick hit him straight in the abdomen where two previous stabs had been.

"WATCH WHO YOU'RE FUCKING AROUND WITH!" Larcen roared as the other man threw up blood. "LET SEE IF YOU CAN STILL LAUGH WHEN I TAKE YOUR HEAD OFF!"

Akira swung down, closing in, getting closer to his neck. Time and movement suddenly slowed, delaying his death for him.

_No!_

It happened like some kind of an answer to his unspoken prayer.

_Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!_

Larcen didn't even get the chance to speak or turn his body. Something was glowing silver above them.

_Webs?_

"What the hell? ANTE-SAMA! CAPTAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mustang whirled his dazed head around at the desperate howl. "WHAT-"

The bound man abruptly ceased everything. His body went limped, his expression fell... And slowly changed into a bitter smile. The rockabilly man could do nothing but stare in horror at the sight; thin threads were shot through the captive, ripping muscles, and hung him like a puppet. But most memorably to his eyes was the loop around Larcen's neck, a tightening loop that was choking the swordsman, penetrating the skin.

"So this is how is it..." he heard him whisper. "I should've known."

"Who- Who the hell did this?"

Larcen looked down at him. "You...Chachingching... are a lucky man," he managed with a little grin.

Those lifted corners of his lips slackened, the eyes stopped blinking, the Diamond Akira fell from his hand by Mustang's side, and he went limped.

_It's ...over? He'd dead?_

A thin, silver string dangled from a web on the ceiling, bursting with unnatural light.

Letting his guard down with relief, Mustang never got to wonder why as drowsiness overtook him. The last thing he saw behind the dead body were the spider webs growing fainter and fainter...

* * *

The pain.

It was all he knew.

It surpassed the physical, surpassed the mental and reached to a whole another level that Kidd didn't even think was possible. Before, his wounds were absolute torturous. Now, they faded into insignificance. It felt as if his entire existence was being ripped apart; the mind here, the body there, and bits and pieces of him around, never getting back together. He couldn't scream- because he wasn't capable of it. He couldn't feel- yet it hurt so much that- And with another rip, he couldn't think.

In the mist of this sea, he could still somehow sense the alien presence beside him. He sensed it laughing even though he couldn't hear it. The spider's limbs were just gently tapping him as it did its job- whatever that was.

_Hahaha! You should know better to cross the Devil, brat!_

But while it spoke to him and he perceived it, the pain was all he knew.

And just like that, he flew up and burst through the water surface, re-emerging as himself again back to reality.

A new energy shot through Kidd's bloodstream as he revived, and not wasting a second, he found himself lunging forward towards the Hell Kaiser, closing his hands around the other man's throat.

Disbelief ran through Ante's face as madness blazed Kidd's eyes. The hands tightened, and before a word could even be uttered-

"DIE!" _**WHAM!**_

He slammed the bastard head-first into the ground, shattering the skull. The rocks flew up, dust blew as he clutched and snapped the neck. It was a ground-blizzard of sand. Moments felt like eternity. He didn't let go until everything settled.

Now, blood and brain ran through the newly-formed fractures.

Kidd stood up and fell on his knees a second later, breathless. Bewilderment and confusion ran circles around him as he registered the silence.

It had been so easy.

He stared at Ante's dead body, shivering as the energy drained rapidly, dizzied by everything else; fear, blood loss, and exhaustion.

Why was it so easy? He asked, replaying over and over again of that sudden change in aura, that shot of adrenaline and blood-lust that made him make the kill. The win seemed too good to be true, wrong, even.

_Is he really dead?_

His worn out body started to slack as he struggled to stay awake.

No matter. Dead or not, he didn't give a fuck. Why the hell should he? The redhead slowly got up on his feet. He had to find Killer, and the rest of the crew, and if they were still alive- a large lump form in his throat-, they'll leave this hell of a place. Now.

He took only two steps, and could take no more.

And strangely enough, as he fell, found himself thinking, _Sloth..._

Too tired. His head hit the ground.

.._Sloth?_ Why did he think that? _Those things that climb trees and eat leaves?_

_Leaves... _Yes, that word was in the dictionary. He remembered looking up the spelling.

_Plural form of "leaf", noun... Part of a plant..._

_Photosynthesis..._

The webs were melting away.

* * *

**End Note:** I almost never leave end notes, but I bet that some of you out there are as confused as fuck, if not all.

No, this sudden, nonsensical victory isn't a result of my laziness. It was planned, and it will remain, until in the story's far future, completely what-the-fuck-that-was-a-rip-off worthy. :P And I gotta say this because this whole arc is a what-the-fuck-that-was-a-rip-off arc.

And don't worry, this is the only what-the-fuck-that-was-a-rip-off arc in the outline. Intentionally, of course.


	49. Under To Up

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Dark Sky's, nautikitti, Cloverskeet, Savage Valentine, n, kiku90, xoxCutie-Chanxox, Fluffy _and _anonymous_ for their wonderful reviews! Last chapter wasn't horrible? o.O I thought it was...

Before I start this, I... genuinely feel a need to apologize to Clover-chan, along with many others, because I know that this chapter will ruin a certain perspective of hers of the Kidd pirates. Just remember, my shit isn't canon. Sorry anyway! T_T

A second apology goes to all of you too, because I made a stupid promise some times back that I'm going to get Eddie and Bat-chan both in the crew by Chinese New Year (Feb 2nd this year!) and I haven't even gotten to Bat-chan's arc. Yes, I'm way behind schedule.

I really, really phail. A lot. *More dramatic crying*

* * *

Besides the loud downpour of the waterfall, all was silent. Then, interrupting the endless calming splashes, footsteps echoed through the dark tunnels as a humanoid being traveled. The tall, imposed figure was but a silhouette to eyes as it passed by the fall whilst glancing up the mirror that hung in an eccentric position just above the water, and went on his way.

Although little light escaped beyond the sea surface, he knew that it was close to sunset.

The creature roamed, turned, and finally arrived at its destination; a cavern where three bodies lay amongst the aftermath of a battle. He moved in a sluggish manner, first stepping over the female corpse, then passing the second body to approach the last one- the only living one.

The breathing, he could tell, was shallow.

He picked Kidd up.

* * *

Hiroki dreamt.

Or rather, with eyes barely closed and a mind half-submerged in sleep, he remembered.

_Maki-neesan..._

The pain faded, years flew backwards, and suddenly, he was no longer on the wet tunnel ground, but standing on his feet, walking through an empty corridor with a small sack in his hand, followed by a nervous-looking bodyguard. Instantly, he knew where he was- back home-, how old he was- thirteen-, and where he was heading in this particular memory.

Shinoda Maki used to be their father's favorite daughter.

The images flashed, and fleshed to life.

"_Hiroki-sama, please listen to me and head back! Oyabun-sama will not forgive me if I let you continue! Maki-sama isn't permitted visitors at the moment!"_

_Ignoring the man's pleading, Hiroki continued down the hall until he arrived by a rusty cell door. _

"_Key," he commanded, waiting. The man hesitated, as if about to protest more, but finally caved in and produced out the key, and opened the iron door for him. "Guard out here. If anyone comes by, shut them up."_

_He stepped in, closing the entrance behind him._

_There was a foul, musky smell about the room. Lit by a single dim, yellow light-bulb above, shadows covered every corner. Squeaks of rats echoed every other second as they scurried here and there. Cobwebs and dust covered almost everything. All around him were black bars that made up narrow, cage-like jail cells. It was a typical place where one would place their enemies in, a coop to torment them until their death sentences._

"_Nee-san," he called out. _

_It was not a typical place where a man would imprison his own flesh and blood._

"_Nee-san, it's me."_

He never understood why. Perhaps it was because she was the eldest of the three legitimate children, so her being a daughter did not have much of an impact on Takamaru than the two other sisters' births, thus, allowing him to favor her. Perhaps it was because of Maki's fierce and vicious personality that made her seemed fit to be an offspring of a Yakuza lord, in contrast to Kaori's and Rina's timidness.

_Sounds of chains rattling rang in the air from the cell furthest from him, and finally, under a pile of straws, a seventeen year old, dirty, disheveled girl emerged. Bruises and cuts botched her once-beautiful skin, blond hair fell over her face, and her maddened, icy eyes aimed directly at him, glaring at him before she registered who he was._

_Maki lunged forward when she did, shaking hands gripping the metal bars._

"_Do you have it?" she said in a hurried hush, making her brother withdraw a step. He felt nothing but sorrow at the sight; it has only been three days, and she was already like this. "Hiro-chan, do you have it or not!"_

_Pushing his anxiety aside, Hiroki went up to her and brought the sack that he'd been carrying in front of him. She snatched it right out of his grasp, laughing insanely as she dumped out the contents of the sack onto the floor; a piece of aluminum foil, a straw, a lighter, a bag of heroin, and an equally large bag of cocaine._

_Her giggling was pathetic to his ears as he watched her preparing the drugs together, trembling with excitement. The lighter fired up under the crack on the aluminum foil, and with the straw in her mouth, she smoked. The shivering lessened with every inhale._

She was also a slave in every aspect that he saw her; to the family, to herself, to her dangerous pleasures, to her wilderness and her utter disobedience. Every time she fought, the binds only got tighter, the restriction constricted her more.

"_...Nee-san, stop. You'll overdose."_

"_Shut up," she said back, pouring out more of each drug from their bags, and repeated the same procedure without a care. _

_"That's more than you usually take in two days. Stop it before you kill yourself."_

"_I told you to shut up!" _

_Maybe he shouldn't have brought them to her._

"_Stop it. You're taking too much at once-"_

"_I said, 'Shut the fuck up!'" Maki snarled, whipping her head around. In a flash of rage, she crushed the foil and hurled it at him. The white powder hit and splattered across his face. "Don't tell me what to do, you little bastard!"_

_Hiroki brought a sleeve up and wiped the drugs off, refraining from breathing lest he might inhale some._

He remembered why she was like this. Three days beforehand, she had tried to run away. It wasn't a success.

"_So what if I die from overdose?" she continued to ramble unsteadily under her breath as the drugs took effect. "It's not like anyone will give a fuck!" Her voice raised._

"S_top shouting. If we get caught-" A hand shot out from between the bars and grabbed hold of his collar before he could get away, slamming him against the cage, bringing his face directly in front of his sister's. Her piercing eyes flashed as she glared at him with red fury._

"_I told you to shut the fuck up! It's not like you're gonna get in trouble for visiting or bringing me some shitty crack," she hissed. "If anybody, it's gonna be _me_ again! Don't think that you can boss your big sis around! Know your fucking place in the family, fucking brat!"_

And from there on, his memories jumbled in chaos. Bits and pieces flew out of control. Her hissing voice twisted and burned him.

_"Papa never loved us, so what makes you so special? You want me to tell you, Hiro-chan? Do you want to know how you and your mother even got away alive from Chiyo? He saved you two, that's why! He personally made sure that you were safe! And do you know why he even fucking bothers when he let all of our other half-siblings and their mothers die?"_ Yes she was shrieking then. It hurt his head. _"Do you want to know an interesting little secret? ...__The rest of them were all daughters. Your mother was the only woman who bore him a son!_

_"And when he got his hands on you, your mother..." _

_She made a cutting motion with her hand and throat, causing him to flinch and look away. _

_A low laugh broke from her mouth at the reaction. _

_"What? He never cared about any of us! His ideal is to have a son to take over the family, and you're it. He doesn't give a damn as long as you do your part! That's the truth and it's not that fucking pretty, Hiro-chan! Are you going to deny now?"_

Deny? Run? Hide?

_"I know all that already," he said back, forcing himself to look at her. "You don't have to tell me."_

_And with that, she distanced from him. The chains clinked like bells as she moved away. _

_"Good, at least you're not a deluded little piece of shit like the rest of this group. Unlike them, you understand what I'm talking about._

_"But... I'm going to be free," she went on. "I've decided, I'm going to leave the family, and once I do, I'll never come back. You're lucky to be a son, I'm lucky to be a daughter, because I don't matter to them."_

_She suddenly threw a handful of the cocaine into the air, laughing with delight as the white powder snowed around her, and danced in the middle of the jail cell, shouting "Freedom!" at the top of her lungs. He backed off at the awful sight, replaying the scene over and over as he left._

Maki scared him.

The next day, their father had forced her into rehabilitation. Three years passed before she willingly sought help. Three more years passed before she was freed of her drug addictions, and still they hospitalized her for another year. He saw her again when he was twenty as she stepped down onto shore from a ship, cheerful, healthy, and a totally new person. Everyone thought that she had healed. Only he understood why she suddenly became obsessed with finding a husband.

Back to present, Hiroki cracked his eyes open just barely enough to register the movement.

Someone was carrying him.

_...I'm not dead yet?_

He glanced to the left, and saw blue.

* * *

It wasn't long before Ren got bored with running circles around the cook's poison-covered body, and pretty soon after settling down, she also got hungry. Her instincts told her that lunchtime had long passed, and such information wasn't exactly pleasing to her stomach as it gave small growls and rumbles.

Overturning rocks after rocks, she couldn't find any that was house-shaped. If it wasn't edible, only two things will happen; one, if she eats something that her digestive system couldn't take, she'll have a horrible stomachache; and two, the rocks passes right through the digestive process, gets swiftly pooped out the "other side", and no nutrition would be absorbed, making eating them in the first place useless. Besides, after chewing through all that rock fighting the mamba, her stomach didn't feel that well.

So she started singing to herself, raising her bald head high and proud, swaying her tail.

"Waaooowowowowo! Woof, wowowowow! Lulululu! Weeeee! Owowowow!" It was her favorite song, Binks' Sake. "Waaowowowowowo! Woof, wowowowow! Ooooooooooo! Lulu-" She suddenly stopped the second verse in.

Someone was coming.

Ren pointed her nose high into the air and took a deep sniff. It smelled of fire and ashes.

She couldn't see much in the darkness, only able to make out a tall, human-like figure. The figure paused for a second, as if glancing at her, and threw a sheet over Camry. She sniffed it again.

It didn't smell horrible, but it didn't smell familiar either.

The figure wrapped the cook fully, picked him up, and continued down the tunnel, bypassing the dead serpent.

Ren followed, barking questioningly.

* * *

"ANIKI!"

Chevy paced through the slope tunnels for the last twenty minutes, screaming on the top of his lungs. Even the itching rashes ceased to distract him as he concentrated the last of his strength on finding Mustang, hoping that nothing too bad happened. The hope was getting dimmer with every moment passing. If his brother was all right, shouldn't he have answered by now?

"ANIKI!" he shouted again. "WHERE-" He tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face, wincing as his botched skin made contact with the wet, rocky ground, the dirty water splashing on his cheeks. "Ow...Huh?"

The teen wiped the mess off of himself, smearing red all over.

"...Blood?" A trail of it was streaming past his left down the slope, and without a second thought, he broke into a full run.

Sure enough, Mustang was up ahead, but it wasn't until he noticed Larcen hanging in the mid-air did he stopped, and paled, slowing his approach.

"Wh- What is this? Oi, Aniki, you-" He looked down, and was even more appalled by the condition that his oldest brother was in, his heart almost stopping until he realized that yes, the man was still breathing. "What happened to your arm? Where is it? I-" _...Wait a minute!_

Chevy stared down at his own blistered, bleeding hands. _My rash,_ his teeth gritted with a twinge of panic. _I can't touch him! If I do, I'll give him rash as well!_

"Shit!" _And this place's probably not even inhabited by anyone but-_ He glanced grimly up at the hanging body- _them. Aniki's going to bleed to death in his sleep if I can't find help soon. But the rash from the poison ivy..._ He looked down his palms again, then back at his brother, to his palms, and back, conflicting with himself.

"Screw it! A rash is easy to take care of!" And he bent down, just about to pick Mustang up when he saw a shadow darkening them.

The teen stiffened, a droplet of sweat and blood running down his forehead as the figure loomed, remaining unmoved. He carefully turned, and eyes immediately widened with bewilderment at the grotesque appearance of this...

"...Who are you?" he asked, not able to identify the being as anything.

With tan skin, a mouth stitched across his face, blue dreadlocks, streaks like thorns on vines lined his body, and dressed in the most bizarre fashion that Chevy had seen of anyone, the creature walked by him to the other side, took down Larcen's body, and lay the dead on the ground.

"Are- Are you his nakama?" the teen demanded, letting more fear slipping into his voice. He had no resources left to fight, and a physical battle was beyond his capability.

The creature barely even acknowledged him as he slipped a giant arm around Mustang's neck, and another under his legs, lifting his brother up.

_No!_ "LEAVE HIM!" the younger cried, lunging forward. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ANIKI? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Was he even capable of speech? What the hell was this thing?

"I'm a doctor."

* * *

"Chuckie, your forehead is bleeding," Killer said in a breathless voice, trying the best he could to sit back up. Tears streamed down the boy's cheeks as he looked at the masked man, a hand rubbing snot all over his face. "Don't move around too much, or you'll hurt yourself even more. And stop crying, you'll give yourself a headache."

"Hypocrite! _You_'re moving around!" came the single second outburst before the crier reduced back to tiny sobs and whimpers, blabbing something along the lines of "Don't die", "Boss", and "I wanna go home."

He honestly couldn't answer. How could he? It _was _hypocritical of him.

So Killer the only thing he saw fit, and hit Chuckie on the back of his head, knocking him out.

"Sorry," he whispered as the boy fell.

It would be better for him to die if no one sees it.

But until then, getting the child out of here was the least he should do. Chuckie shouldn't have witness or experienced any of that, he decided as he forced himself up on his feet. He would find a way to the island surface, and leave the boy there. Maybe if long enough, Chuckie would disregard everything as a dream, and move on with the rest of the crew, if anyone else was still left. And if he himself doesn't make it alive, then... His mind numbed, refusing to think further beyond the point.

Without even taking a step, his knees gave in, and he collapsed back onto the ground.

His senses were too weak to perceive an alien presence as he struggled to try once more. It wasn't until a hand touched his mask at an attempt to remove it did he notice anything.

"Don't touch my mask!" he instantly screamed.

The hand retreated. He looked up to face the owner of the limb, and his breathing halt. A twinge of despair clenched his inside.

_No._

"'Massacre Man' Killer," the new voice muttered his name.

There was a pause before Killer could speak.

"The 'Hell Breather'...Sloth," he muttered back through clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

_Damn it! Another commander? _He could feel the blue haired creature- man or not- gazing down at him. _I can't even get up! I can't fight him!_

"...If you're here to avenge 'Mirror Queen', I killed him. Leave the boy alone." He looked up. "Take him back up to the surface and let him free!"

For a second, not a sound was heard but his own heartbeats as he awaited his death.

Then... "I have your captain."

Killer snapped to attention again. _Kidd?_

"Where is-"

"His wounds are being healed, and so are the rest of your crew," the sin said. "Master Ante is dead. I am here to retrieve you."

* * *

Kidd didn't know how many days had passed. It was midnight when he found himself staring at a dark sky of crescent moon and stars, and realized that he was not where he'd passed out. He had five seconds to cherish the sight before his eyes, weighted by heavy stones, closed again. Night turned morning, and it wasn't until then did he find the energy to move his body. He sat up in the middle of a poorly constructed shed that had a roof that really couldn't be called a roof at all, bandaged from head to toe. Through the large cracks of the "walls" he could see some of the crew moving around. Hiroki was tending a small fire, Killer was hauling logs and tree trunks, and Ren-

"Woof!"

_Where are we?_ he wondered.

"Woof!" she was slithering faster and closer, sparks lighting up her large beady animal eyes.

The aroma of a warm breakfast reached his nose. The shipwright got up , Chevy and Chuckie, ran after their pet, all three responding to her barking. Killer dropped his load, the mask turned towards his direction.

A cloud passed, unveiling the sun, and the golden light bathed and warmed his pale, cold skin.

"Woof!" The worm popped out from the ground and took him by surprise as she coated his face with her green saliva the moment he sat up from the straw-made bed.

"Killer-san, Boss woke up!" Chuckie shouted.

Strangely enough, despite the many rising puzzlement, nothing but serenity filled him.

_Heaven?_

Ren purred and rubbed her head against his arm.

* * *

Heaven?

_Feh, yeah right,_ reality enforced with bitter sarcasm. The serenity was nothing but a spur of the moment illusion when the daunting truth hit Kidd full-force in the face.

Both Mustang and Camry were still bedridden. One lost his left arm, recovering, but in desperate need of blood replenishment. The other hadn't even woken up, poisoned by snake venom, and kept only alive by liquid supplements of vitamins and other things. Killer, Hiroki, and Chevy were just as bandaged up as he was. The ship was still down below the island, somewhere in the tunnels. Only Chuckie got away with a bruise on his forehead, and Ren scotch-free. Now a new problem stared right into his face, waiting for a reply.

"How can we trust you?"

The brightness of the day contrasted the tense, gloomy, and distrusting atmosphere. Killer was looking out a small window to his left, shutting out the entire conversation, Hiroki stared at the ground, unblinking like a zombie, and everyone else's eyes darted between him and the sin.

"I killed your captain," Kidd continued. "Your entire crew is dead. How would I know that you won't turn against us?"

It wasn't just this...man, if he could call the blue-haired creature that. It was everything that'd happened to them when they approached this island. Why them? How did he defeat a King this easily? What was this person the only living one out of the entire crew of the Hell Kaiser? Why did he save them?

"Boss," Chevy interrupted the tension in a quiet voice. "My brothers-"

"We can find another doctor!" he immediately snarled back.

"But-" A look into his captain's eyes shut him up, and the teen shrank back, lowering his head.

Anyone who was there would sense just what exactly was stopping Kidd, and while Chevy wanted to protest further, he understood why. This wasn't about anger- even though every single one of them had a right to be angry-, this wasn't about distrust- although that remained a strong presence-, but fear. He could see the fear in everyone. The negativity tightened his inside; it felt repulsive to stand in the middle of all this.

But what choices did they have? Couldn't Kidd see that too?

Chevy shot a glance towards the first mate, wishing that he could see an answer on Killer's face, and told himself whom was he kidding when the face itself couldn't even be seen.

Whatever that did it, the masked man seemed to have gotten his message, and turned around for the first time this gathering.

"Kidd..."

The whisper of his name snapped something inside of the redhead, and he smashed a fist against the poor-made wood structure, rattling the entire shed. The fear was clearly visible now. His whole body was trembling, his face dark and lined, and sweats rolled down the side of his head as he shouted, "Shut up!"

The tiny blossom of hope that had bloomed within Chevy was instantly crushed as his captain glared dagger at Sloth, who stood calm and expecting.

_Is Killer-san not going to have an effect either?_

"I want my crew back," he hissed, the demand catching the teen off guard. "I don't know what reasons or motives you have for saving us in the first place, and I don't give a fuck about your reasons or motives for wanting to join my crew after I killed yours! Because I'll kill you if you try to turn against me!" He stared straight at the doctor. "Get me my crew back, and I'll let you off!"

Sloth bowed. "That's all I ask, Master Kidd."

* * *

The group disbanded, each going back to minding his own business. The refreshing air of the outside felt like a remedy to his many killing headaches as Killer escaped to the open, and away from the problems. He shrank back into the woods where he'd been for the past days, continuing to cut down the needed lumber.

_Whoosh! _Went his sword. A white phantom light flew from the motion, cutting through twenty or so thin trees at the same time. Milliseconds they all fell by the slope cut, quaking the ground.

This island, he learned, once had been inhabited. There were huts and primitive stone houses lining around the beaches, but the population was long gone, presumably destroyed by Ante when his crew invaded here. Not that it mattered much.

"I owe you an apology," he spoke up, startling Chevy, who was rolling the trunks to one pile. "It was your family's lives at stake."

The teen blinked, and then nodded with acknowledgment.

The gloomy silence went on for another while as they gathered the woods, until...

"The problem isn't finished here, is it, Killer-san?" Chevy asked, getting the thoughts that he had kept bottled up, out. "Maybe the one you should apologize to isn't me, but the captain."

Killer's movements stilled.

"...I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

"Please don't just deny it!" the teen voiced. "Killer-san, everyone can see that there's a problem between you two! Usually, you have no trouble speaking up against Kidd-sama, yet today, you held back even before you started-"

"Leave it, Chevy!"

But the subject refused to be dropped. "None of us knows why you're fighting-" "We're not fighting!" "But this crew can't go on when the first mate and the captain won't get along. We..." His hands balled into fists. "It wasn't like this when us brothers first joined. This crew was different from the rest of the pirates out there, and we could see that; that's the sole reason why Camry-niisan gave in to our pleads, and I know that he wasn't kidding when he said that he'll force us to leave if things go wrong." Killer flinched at this. "And something's definitely wrong here, so please correct it, for the sake of everyone else!"

Their cook made that threat? The masked man leaned back, mind swimming as he processed this news. More and more troubles surfaced all at once; and one in particular reeled its ugly head towards him; the allegiance of this crew.

He was surprised, yet, now that he rethought about it, he shouldn't be. Camry was that kind of a person, wasn't he? That man had loyalty, but loyalty more to his family than anything else. He would stay in the crew, only if his own brothers weren't in danger.

They didn't understand the complications between him and Kidd, and made the assumption that... Killer closed his eyes.

If Kidd goes crazy, if they became like Killer's father, then what a nightmare would that be.

"...It's something personal," he answered in a sullen voice. "I will deal with it."

Chevy stared at him with doubts, but eventually nodded with acceptance.

"I'm sorry for shoving all this at you," he apologized. "But you're the only one who _could_ do anything about it. Please understand that."

Killer said nothing.

He'll take care everything, he promised himself, one by one. This crew will not fall.

The two finished and carried the lumber back. After dumping the wood aside, the masked man took the opportunity, and disappeared before anyone else could approach him, going to take care of an unfinished business.

Minutes later, Killer found himself in front of the mouth of a dark, damp cave- the cave was the beginning of the tunnel system from the island surface-, and knocked on the stone trice.

"Sloth," he called out.

A moment passed before the doctor emerged from a small opening on the side and dodged his head back, announcing his presence. The blond followed, and ventured into the chamber.

"It's about Cyrine," he said as Sloth steadily mixed two liquids together in a cup, creating a greenish, transparent liquid- an antidote for the mamba poison, Killer had learned. "You were their crew's doctor. How could you not tell that she had syphilis?" A hand subconsciously closed around the bandaged and healing bite mark.

"I knew," came the answer. "We all did."

"Then why didn't you treat her?" he demanded heatedly. "You have the cure too, don't you?"

"You do not have it," Sloth merely said. "Tertiary stage syphilis, for most cases, isn't contagious, and the bacteria in Cyrine's body had been unusually weak. It was only due to her own failing health from the symptoms that she died. The bacteria wouldn't have infected as well as it could on a place like a human neck. Your own antibodies should've also easily countered the infection. If you are experiencing sores or anything of-"

So what if he didn't have it? His nails dug and clawed. It didn't make him feel any less revolting. "Why wasn't she treated?" he inquired again.

"One cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped. A doctor cannot treat a patient when that patient refused to believe that she had the disease," he answered, and glanced at Killer out the corner of his eyes. "Would you like a blood test, Vice Captain?"

_She didn't believe that she had it?_ It boggled his mind. "That's ridiculous! How could she not...?"

There was one thing that he still couldn't get out of his head.

"...Who was she?"

The antidote was poured into a bag, and was lay down in a tray with a syringe.

"Lady Kassab-Shamoun Cyrine, wife of Kassab Lars, a lord of a vast province on an island on Grand Line," Sloth responded, gathering all the instruments he needed. "She accidentally killed her only brother at a young age after consuming her Devil Fruit, and was considered a bane to her parents ever since. At age sixteen, they married her off to one of their lesser vassals that she fell in love with, who, using her feelings for him, plotted their deaths and took over the fortune. She went along with it because of her resentment towards her parents, and her hope to win his heart.

"Her husband was extremely frightened of her Devil Fruit power and unexplained strength, thinking that she might one day kill him too, and refused to look at her. Thus, he would rarely ever go home, often borrowing beds of other men's wives or brothels. The one day that he did return was the day he learned that he'd caught syphilis. Not knowing about it, she raped and murdered him in a fit of rage, and contacted it herself. We arrived three years later due to a rumor about a demoness residing there, demolished the province, and headed straight for the Kassab manor. We found out that ever since her kill, Cyrine had locked herself up, butchered everyone within her own home, and had been feeding off their dead bodies in order to stay alive. Ante took a liking of her and her ability, and recruited her. The disease was well into the latent stage then; it wasn't until a year later in the New World did obvious signs of syphilis show up. When I diagnosed her with it, she did not believe me.

"It was her choice."

"_Why don't you love me?"_

_So it was dementia, _Killer concluded, closing his eyes and letting out a deep, slow breath. _She thought I was her husband._

"I... I want a blood test. Just in case," he lied. In reality, it was to quiet his mortified conscience more than anything else. "I don't want to regret later."

* * *

Three more days until he could take off his bandages and start giving blood. His aniki was awake, yes, but Mustang could hardly function with the immense loss of blood that he'd suffered from that one arm. Chuckie had already given all he could, being only a young boy. Camry was still in a coma, his body working to rid his system of the poison- not in any shape to donate. Because of his rash, he, too, had to hold off until it goes away. So three more days until he takes off the bandages.

Chevy had thought that his own experience was terrifying, but as it turned out, he was lucky. Looking at the condition of his brothers, the boss, and Killer-san made his "wounds" seem like petty scratches. Only Hiroki had not suffered to that degree, receiving harsh, but shallow cuts. The shipwright also had to replenish blood, but, he supposed by the way that the man was operating right now, it was no longer a problem.

Right now? Three of them walked through the tunnels again. Him, Hiroki, and their new crew member, Sloth. They were to retrieve back up as much of their broken ship as they could, first by taking her apart into smaller pieces so that she could be repaired up on the island surface. They were also informed of a great treasure hidden by Larcen, and under Kidd's order, the treasure was theirs for the taken.

His eyes darted to Hiroki, who stared straight forward with a face of a statue, almost like he was lost in his own world.

Nobody knew what happened to their shipwright, nobody dared question.

_But..._ His focus shifted from Hiroki to Sloth's back.

He didn't know what to think of this man, assuming that the doctor was human.

_Whoosh!_

The teen gasped and whirled around, alerted by the sound. Sloth had stopped.

_Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!_

"Who...?" Hiroki asked.

Color drained from his face. _Don't tell me- _Vines surrounded them, destroying all fearing doubts as a shadowed figure shot forward.

"TRAITOR!" Ivy screamed. "I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!"

_She..._ He was loss for words, staggering with shock. _She didn't die? I burned her! Didn't I?_ He wanted to run, but his legs weakened and froze.

There was a vile odor about her, like a mix of burnt plant and burnt flesh. Her green skin was wither-looking, like something depraved of all hydration. Yet, she still moved.

"Who is this?" the shipwright asked, looking at the woman.

"So you've teamed up with the rookies, haven't you, Sloth?" she sneered down at her former crewmate, who stood calm and composed under her furious glare. "I would expect that from you, you coward!"

"Why are you not dead?" the blue-haired man asked.

Her expression faltered, and then morphed into that of amusing as she replied.

"Hahaha! Why am I not dead? Ante's threads killing me? Hahaha! He forgot what I am!" she crowed, leaning back, glowering. "Rip off my arm, and I'll grow another. Rip off my head, and I'll do the same! I'm a plant-woman! That bastard had the audacity to underestimate my ability? Serve him right to die! And in the hands of some newbie too! How humiliating! Hahahaha!"

She stopped, her voice hushed, and her eyes wandered.

"You..."

Her finger pointed right at Chevy, who crawled away as her finger curled back.

"That insolent rat!"

_No!_

"You will keep away from him," Sloth ordered.

"Shut up, you mongrel! Give me that boy! I'll kill that boy!"

"RUN!"

_FUUUUUUM!_

"Aaaaaah!" A blast of heat knocked him backwards. A piercing, dying cry went up in the air.

Chevy managed to lower his shielding arm for one second to witness the sight of Ivy evaporating into ashes by a bright orange hell flame, the fire leading back to Sloth's open mouth.

Even Hiroki appeared stunned.

_What power! My fire before didn't even do half of the job I'd expected, yet in one attack he vanquished her completely?_

"...You do not seem like a Devil Fruit user, yet you can breath fire," Hiroki said. "What are you?"

The fire died away, leaving almost no remnant behind. There was a hesitation as they waited for his answer.

Sloth turned around. "It is an ability of my tribe. I know nothing else. May we proceed instead?"

* * *

Another whole week passed before Hiroki repaired enough of _Maria_ for her to stay afloat on water. Without wasting time, the crew packed everything- the gold, enough wood to fix their ship, months worth of food- and set sail.

In different places on the ship, everyone glanced back at the hell that they've left behind, and nobody said a word.

* * *

**End Note:** I was going to do all this next chapter, but I changed my mind.

Name: Sloth

He is- ohmahfuckin'gawd- **not an OC**. If you can't tell that he's Eddie (AKA the zombie-looking guy) from my description, then... Well... Yeah...

Age: ...I don't know :|

Eye: I can't tell from the Anime, but it _looks_ black

Hair: Blue in dreadlocks, obviously

Height: It's in the Anime

Fighting Ability: Fire-breathing, obviously, and I read from One Piece wikia that he uses two swords?

Interests: I don't know... I'm sorry, but I don't even know if he's human.

Characteristics: Honestly, between Fanon's "Eddie", and "Sloth", this story's version of him, I could cringe. For some reason, everyone pictured him as a sweet, shy person, which struck me as cute, but strange. Mind you, this arc was set even before I finished writing the first arc, so I actually created Sloth for the place of "the Zombie-looking dude" way before I got wind of how fans pictured him. And when I did, I went "Oh... ouch" and screamed into a pillow, because the differences fucking hurt.

So Sloth isn't cute, he doesn't blush and most likely wouldn't tolerate hugs or kisses from other people. Later in the story, you'll probably even hate him. I'm sorry. 'OTL ...Can I at least claim them as twins?

One Unique Thing About Him: He is the only one out of the seven commanders of Ante's crew that has a bounty of less than one hundred million beri. His current bounty is sixty-seven million, which will put him on number two from the Kidd pirates' bounty standings.

Now if anybody still cares, here's the list of sins:

First off, the packs of wolf-like men chasing Hiroki are based off of the Opportunists, those who in afterlife dwell between Heaven and Hell in a limbo with nowhere to go, because in their lifetime, they only allied for selfish purposes and never offered true loyalty to anyone. In here, these were the men who turned over their own captains and crewmates to Ante, thinking that they themselves could get away.

The sins are in the Purgaturio, not the Inferno, which pissed me off when I found out because I was led to believe otherwise for years.

Kentra was Wrath- I've got nothing to say about her, except that I came very close to naming her "Katrina" instead, but then rethought about it and decided not to be too mean.

Cyrine was Lust- She's one of the more important reasons of why this arc needed to be written, even though it doesn't seem like it. I based her appearance off of Myriam Fares, a Lebanese singer, and her name is from Cyrine Abdel Nour, another Lebanese singer/actress. Beautiful ladies, I tell you. *3* Personality-wise, she's just from my sick imagination.

Ivy was Envy- 'Nuff said. She was a side character.

Sloth is Sloth- Mmhm.

Larcen was Avarice- I shamelessly ripped his name off of the word "larceny." Somehow, it seemed befitting of him.

The Black Mamba was Gluttony- Now here's the one that I had real trouble with. I cannot get him to connect. Originally, I intended to put a big snake like a Boa Constrictor or something that's truly gluttonous by nature, but I really want to poison Camry's eyes and make those streaks (forgive me). However, I found out that big snake rarely produce poison, so I ended up cheating and went with a small snake, making him overgrown. Yeah, yeah, I know what I'm doing. Don't worry. I always research up the rules before I break them. Most of the times.

Narcisse was Vanity- There were two people that I based him off of. One, the stepmother from Snow White, and I couldn't remember who the second one was for the longest time until I decided to surf Youtube a couple of weeks back; and then I re-discovered Jeffree Star. I have mix opinions about Mr. Star, and not all of it is pleasant. That's all I'm going to say. -_-' He's not really an okama since they only person he loved was himself- I feel as if I'm disgracing Bon-chan and Iva-chan by placing him in the same category as them. Narcissism is a form of homosexuality if you think about it though.

Marc D. Ante- D. Ante... Dante. If you live in an European society and don't know what Dante Alighieri is known for, then I don't know what to say to you. :| Marc came from Marc Anthony, the general who fought beside Julius Caesar, who formed the second triumvirate with Octavian (AKA Augustus the first Roman Emperor), Caesar's adopted (?) nephew, and the-third-dude-whom-no-Latin-students-remember-but-whose-name-probably-starts-with-'P' after Caesar's death, then later had an affair with Cleopatra, and ended up going to war with Octavian. I believe that he got placed in the second circle for the crime of lust.

If I die, then according to the Inferno, I would go to Circle Seven... I love you too, Dante. XP


	50. Inter Arc: The Sickness About Maria

******Author's Note:** Thanks to ___anonymous, Savage Valentine, Summer Memory, Kiku90, Skadi-san _(Who messaged me on DA XD)_, ____Cloverskeet, Fluffy_ and ___Dogychou_ (Miss you! *3*) for reviewing! This chapter was soooo hard to write, but I hope I did a decent job.

To ___anonymous__:_ The fans' view of Eddie was what I was apologizing for. As for the other six bounties (and Ante's), unfortunately, I can't really say because I need to be able to compare them to other non-rookies. If Oda had given us Shanks', Whitebeard's, Roger's, Leo's, Marco's, or any other big-timers' bounties, I would've had a better idea. XD

To ___Fluffy__:_ Sorry, I won't. *Sniffs* ._. At least I'm still loved!

This chapter is bipolar. I would really love to split this big mess into two separate Inter Arcs, but the flow and the topics wouldn't let me, even though the drastic change in mood should've done the trick. Enjoy nonetheless!

Here's a feature of Skadi's b-day present to Killer, a drawing of the entire crew (of this fic): http:/ skadi-skadi-no-mi. Deviantart. Com/ gallery/ #/ d38lbf4 It's also on my profile if you're too lazy to copy and paste.

******Lemon warning!** Or more specifically, **FAILED-lemon warning!** (What do you think I was having a hard time with?) Phew, fifty chapters and almost ten months of writing later, the KiddxKiller bit is officially launching by Yaoi standard. You're about to read the most un-sexy sex scene that you'll ever read, but it's as real as I could get it to be. Sexy was never my intention so don't expect what you want; that, and the fact that I'm a horrible porno author; and the fact that this lemon being sexy would ruin what I'm trying to do rather than help it. Weird sounding, isn't it? It's somewhere at the end so you can go through the first couple of parts without worries.

So glad that I labeled this AU. I can get away with some OOC-ness. A lot of OOC-ness. When judging it canon-wise, of course. OTL

Happy Valentine's day (Nearly missing it by twenty minutes here)!

* * *

There was a sickness about ___Maria_.

Chuckie could felt the ill vibe emitting from every person in the crew, walking around, and as every child would when sensing such a vibe, he kept quiet around the adults, watching them. Times like this made him happy to be a young kid. If he were older, he'd be one of them and suffer the same instead of just observing them in the distance with pity.

On the front upper deck near the bow, he saw Kidd, tense and paler than normal, gazing off into the distance, hands closing into fists by his sides, then relaxing back to normal, then closing, then relaxing... It went on continuously nonstop, writing out the uncertainty and fear. He thought that he saw the man shiver, even though the day was relatively warm and he was wearing a fur coat.

The boy quietly slunk away.

Immediately, his eyes wandered up to a window where white curtains were fluttering in the breeze.

For the past few days, Killer hadn't came out at all except to take meals. Chuckie didn't get it. Did that okama really affected the masked man that much? Yes, he was frightening, but even so, it shouldn't have been like this for a grown man. The boy looked down and frowned. Maybe it was something else.

Only three steps later did a door caught his attention instead. He walked up to the square glass in the middle, stood his highest on his toes, and peeked inside. Ren was on the ground, munching a plate of house-shaped cookies, while Chevy stood by the stove and oven, struggling with the cooking that his older brother had easily handled. His hands were bandaged as a result of all the small cuts from chopping the food, and his eyes were currently watered from the effect of the fresh onion near by.

The rash was all gone, at least.

He settled back on his feet and traveled to the back deck through the left side.

Hiroki was there, and that was when Chuckie knew that the crew was sick.

The shipwright looked no different. His wounds had healed surprisingly fast. His stoic face was in place- lacking the usual small smile. But the boy knew that he was sick, because Hiroki doesn't train, yet, it was what he was doing right now- training.

Right now, surrounded by humanoid doll figures, the man stood like a statue with his eyes closed, looking almost like he had fallen asleep on his feet. Following that, the breeze blew faster, as if the air was gathering around a focal point. Not waiting to see what would happen, Chuckie rushed across the deck to the other side.

New rooms had been built there when the ship was being fixed.

He poked his head inside, stopping the movement of the grinder for a second, then, giving him an acknowledging glance, their new recruit returned back to his work. Behind the doctor was another door, where Mustang and Camry were. His oldest brother would be able to be back to normal soon, perhaps this afternoon or something. Camry had woken up too; his eyes still had to heal.

He daringly stepped in and walked up to Sloth, who stopped and looked back with perturbing calmness, startling the boy.

Chuckie hadn't gotten over how uncanny he looked.

"I don't have anything to do," he told him.

A bowl of nuts were placed in front of him with a nut cracker.

"Open these, if you insist," Sloth instructed.

"Oh...Okay."

* * *

Inside the dim, concealed infirmary, there was a shuffle on one of the beds as a figure sat up with hunched shoulders. Mustang held back a wince as the friction from the activity stung his wounds, and struggled to scratch an itchy spot, only to find it out of his reach. He sighed a tired sigh, and glanced down at his missing left arm. If it had been there, he could've reached around and relieved the nuisance. It'd take a while before he get use to not having two arms.

Mourning such a ridiculous loss wasn't his purpose of getting up, however. There were much, _much_ more important messes to deal with.

"Oi," he called into the darkness. "Camry, you awake?"

He wondered why he asked when he already knew the answer.

The head with the bandaged eyes averted from the direction of the ceiling to him, the face blanker than any other times he'd seen of it.

"I heard that the venom will be all cleared out of your system soon, and that you'll be able to take it off and move around again by tomorrow. Bare with it for just a little longer, okay?" he encouraged, rubbing his sore neck, and decided to get straight to the point as that pensive, blank look never faded throughout it all.

No joking around when talking with Camry, he'd learned that a long time ago.

"Oi," he called again. "Chuckie has high hopes, don't crush it."

The teeth clenched, catching his attention.

"Why would I do that?" his younger brother almost hissed.

"Because you're instinctive, impulsive, judgmental, and never bother to think over of what you're doing until it's done," Mustang said. "What happened was one thing. Whom Kidd is is another."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Aniki," came the dark snap.

"You know perfectly well of what I'm saying, and I'm telling you to shut it and don't let your own sentiment make things worse than it already is," he shot back. "Whatever happened back then is over now. Don't force the guilt on the captain with the crew at such a fragile state."

He could practically feel the fury radiating off Camry as he took a deep breath to soothe himself. It was understandable. Although he was the oldest brother, he'd rarely told Camry what to do, and had rarely distrusted or gotten so vigilant towards him. This was necessary. He'd better do it before it was too late. The younger was too doubtful, too scornful, he lost faith too quickly.

Mustang could recalled each and every single event too clearly, and knew the routine of the situation too well for him to allow it to happen again.

Their mother had died first of child labor, and her death had heart-stricken all of them with the exception of Chuckie, who was but a day old when she released her final breath. He remembered how their father had fell, sinking into a dark depression at the lost of both his dream and wife. He remembered seeing Chevy in tears huddling in a corner of a room, hiding.

What he'd never expected then was the raging eruption from Camry- sixteen years old- screaming at their father, _"If you hadn't tried to leave then this would've never happened!"_ and, _"Deny it all you want! She had us to keep you at home and you knew it! She knew that you would die! She _saved_ you!"_ And off he ran into the woods. It wasn't until months later that their father had drank enough and tired by the depression did he fetched his son back, was still bitter and rebelling.

Then two years later, their old man was killed by pirates.

Mustang never considered himself hard-working. He couldn't remember holding onto a job or going beyond a month without some sort of reprimanding from other townspeople. Often, he'd spend money as soon as he'd earn it. It shouldn't been a wonder to him when Camry lost it, panicked, flew into a fit of temper and left home again; after all, how _was_ a person like him who couldn't treat a thing seriously suppose to provide and care for them? Yet he didn't see it coming.

_Third time is a charm, they say,_ he thought as he brought himself back to reality.

"You lost an arm! And _this_ is what you're worried about? We could've died back there-"

"But we didn't."

"No! You listen, Aniki! I don't care why we join! Whatever we're doing this for, it's not fucking worth someone's life-"

"So then why did you defend Ren? You could've ran yourself-"

"That's _not_ the same! She's... She's family! Of course I would-"

"And they're not?"

Camry's mouth opened to counter, then shut it, lips pursed with white anger. "...They're pirates," he finally admitted weakly. "They... do horrible things- killing innocent people for their own interests, and..." What else? He plowed through his head for the reasons. The first that came to mind was Hiroki and how he cheated at card games, set a city on fire, then the bounties of their first three crew mates, and now with a doctor who'd once worked under one of the most merciless, ruthless monsters the world had known. Yes, he decided, solidifying his side, those were it. "Are you saying that it's all right for us to go down the same-"

But Mustang wasn't having it. "Camry, stop your narrow-mindedness! Those are _not_ the point! I may not seem like it, but do you really think that I would allow it if it does happen? Yes, they're pirates, so what? We know them personally. _You_ know them personally, and as far as that's concerned, they're part of our lives!

"I'm saying that we're at a critical condition right now! You may not be able see it, but I've seen enough of them for the past few days to know that each and every one of them are at their limits! Please, don't push it and break up the family again!"

With his hand covering his eyes, he missed the flinch.

"You've got no forests to run and hide in this time. If push comes to shove, I know that you'll try to leave. There will be problems if you try!" He turned to Camry. "Let it go, that's all I'm asking."

"You lost an arm!"

"Stop bringing it up! That's my own problem, I'll deal with it!"

"How can you be so carefree about it?"

"Because it's _my_ arm! Not my life!"

"You're a cripple!" Camry shouted.

Mustang, with eyes closed with frustration, evoked the final power he'd had. "I'm your older brother, _respect_ my words! You'll do that at the very least, wouldn't you?"

That hit Camry like a slap in the face, who, he thought for a moment, would lose it right then and there. But slowly, the loud, angry breathing calmed, the body slackened, and the tensed fists loosened.

"The 'Aniki' card, huh?" he muttered. "You're using that one on me?"

"Don't try to haul all the weights on your shoulder, you idiot. That's my job," Mustang answered back. "Right, I'm using it on you."

Silence.

"I don't understand you, even if you are my big brother."

"But I'm still your big brother."

"...Yeah, I know that too."

* * *

Clenched, unclenched, clenched, unclenched.

Even after Chuckie had disappeared, the pattern of his hands ceased to stop- not that Kidd was attentive of the boy's presence. In fact, he wasn't even aware of it, too lost in his own thought as he gazed ahead, looking at nothing in particular in the horizon as the ship rocked by the uneven waves. He had over weeks to think it through, yet he still could not.

Although he was there, saw it, experienced it, Kidd was unable to make sense of anything he'd witness and felt, his mind disoriented every time he tried to piece it together.

Ante had died, yet he didn't feel as if he'd won. They were alive, yet he didn't know if it was better off for them to die or not. On the surface, he'd been recessive and calm, but underneath, he'd never felt so violent a rage brooding, like he wanted to kill something, and it was only because he saw no good reason to let it out along with the fact that it was so dormant a feeling that he kept it in, keeping up a blank demeanor. He felt... different, not himself. One moment he was confident, the next uncertain, and his hands went on opening and closing, opening and closing.

Controversial. Distorted.

Why did the Hell Kaiser kill his own first mate? Why didn't he kill Kidd? Why allow himself to be surprise by a rookie? Shouldn't he have easily dodged that? Or was the last island all just a dream?

Sneaking between those thoughts every so often was Killer.

He hadn't seen Killer in nearly a week, who would sneak away before meals start, dispose the trash after they end, and had locked himself up, refusing to see daylight. Kidd's inside churned with illness every time it crossed his thought process, yet, in a way, he was glad and relief that they were avoiding one another. Killer, whom he had so desperately needed to see before, now suddenly became the last person that he wanted to face.

_He told me to leave._

It lingered longer than it should have. Resentment allowed that.

_He took me for a joke._

Maybe later, if he could muster up the courage. Maybe.

Maybe tonight.

* * *

"_The body is a container, the mind is the controller, the spirit is the center, the soul is the preserver and link to afterlife, and life is the energy that enables one's existence."_

"_Energy._

"_Energy is never lost. It is transferred from one place to another, from high concentration to low concentration in a constant cycle- a homogeneous, even spread by nature. This way, balance is created. Balance is essential. Tip the balance, and the world will tip with it. This cycle of energy is in everything, everyone. All are born with incredible amounts of energy. Most of it is dormant. Why? Because the full unleashing of it will disturb the cycle._

"_But if the unleash is controlled, dominated, and manipulated, the power will be great. It has to be sought out within that person, gathered from all five embodiments, channeled correctly and released accurately in particular forms."_

In that memory, the old face of his childhood instructor, a short old man with an rather large odd, question-mark shaped mole on his forehead peered down on him.

"_Control and balance- there are no greater components to Chii Jutsu than these two, Hiroki-sama._"

The geezer was standing on one foot, arms elevated perfectly by either sides of him, gazing with absolute seriousness at his young, expressionless pupil, taking in no account of his ridiculous posture.

"_To begin understand this martial art, you must first understand the cycle, how to analyze the network of energy inside living things. It can be used to heal, to correct disruption, or it can destroy, taking someone's life with one small tap of a nerve. There are different stages to it, as there are of all martial arts, but to truly comprehend and wield this jutsu's full power, the concept of the conquering of that certain dormant power must be grasped and mastered._

"_We call that power 'Haki.'"_

"_Haki?"_

"_That's right...Haki with Chii Jutsu, Yahohoho!" _The old man did a light flip and landed upside-down, balancing on the tip of a finger. _"If you can get it right, the combination will be deadly!"_

Reverting back to present, he dully sensed Chuckie's presence passing him, and felt the stirring of the air as he pushed reality away, inverting into himself.

Haki.

Or more specifically, Kenbunshoku Haki and Busōshoku Haki.

At young age, he'd started training. There was no question that he did not have the third color, but his former instructor, an old geezer he was, passed away too soon, and took away with him the last link to the final stage of the art.

Hiroki had known from the time of his grandfather that Chii Jutsu was already dying out of favor. Takamaru had hated it himself, and hated it even more when he acquired the Iwa Iwa no mi. Arms and weaponries became too powerful, technology became too advance, Devil Fruit users and other strange powers came clearer into the picture. A typical fighter of Chii Jutsu could stand zero chance against the evolving fighting styles, yet it still remained his favorite. Perhaps it was because of the art's lay-back, passive and calming nature. Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't shoot a gun- anyone could with good aim.

Haki was another matter.

No other trainers showed much interest, or even knowledge of furthering the technique, thus, he bothered less, until the possibility vanished from his mind. As he grew older, the thought never occurred to him again- it didn't need to. He was well-protected, well-guarded, and strong enough to beat just about everyone else around him. Rosier had given him quite a shock.

And Kentra had finished the job, slapping him awake by nearly taking his life.

He was a pirate now. They were heading towards the New World, the most dangerous sea, the Pirates' Graveyard. The Hell Kaiser had taught them all that the chance of a crew their strength was nowhere near what one would need to survive there. From what he could gather, they only lived by a stroke of luck and a strange twist in Ante's plans, didn't they? There still wasn't a doubt in his mind that something was up, and their new doctor was one to be cautious about.

_The spirit is the center._

The breeze encircled him as his body slackened.

_Energy runs through everything._

_Bring it out._

He started to take deep, steady breaths.

_Channel, control, balance, gather-_

"Hiroki-san?" the voice snapped him out of concentration. The breeze returned to normal as he opened his eyes, and turned around. "May I speak to you?"

Chevy stood before him, a serious, strained look on his face.

"Hai?"

"It's about Mustang-niisan," the teen said, then as if he couldn't get it out, he stuttered, "He... He lost an arm."

"Yes, I know that," the shipwright confirmed softly, predicting the direction of this conversation.

"I know that..." Chevy took a deep breath. "I know that you have a lot to do right now, with the ship and your own wounds, but... You don't just fix ships, right?"

The man leaned back, his posture slacking a bit as he gazed at his younger crew mate.

"A prosthesis? For your brother?" Judging by the expression, he'd guessed the intention here correctly. "His arm was cut in the upper half, so anything but a brain-controlled prosthesis is useless." His mind quickly scanned a vague blue print. A pure electronic robot was one thing, actual connection between human nerves and machinery was another. A brain chip would most likely be needed. The process would be painful, not to mention the amount of work and the high chance of failure or death. He didn't believe that he'd done anything of that advancement, or if he even had the knowledge. "Did he ask for one?"

"...No," Chevy admitted. "I'm requesting it on his behalf."

Hiroki let out a small sigh as he watched the nervous face shifting with uncertainty.

"Please don't make such a decision for him."

"But you don't understand!"

"I understand it perfectly well. His arm is his arm, not yours-"

"He'll _never_ want one!" Chevy cried, his standing changed as he took a step forward with the slightest of aggression. "Because it'll never cross his mind to, and even if it does, he'll only treat it like an inevitable loss that was meant to be and wave it off! He won't get how hard it'd be for him to be a cripple until it kills him! He just won't! He'll keep blindly pushing his limit and make it seem like a joke! So please, I know that you can make a limb for him!"

_This is a problem_, Hiroki thought wearily.

Yes, a problem on many different levels.

_We now have a cripple. From what I've learned about pirates, the physically-challenged are usually killed off as nuisances, aren't they?_

_Of course, we don't have that option in this crew; this is his own brother._

Somehow, he himself found it hard to imagine killing any of his nakamas off. A voice in the back of his head deemed this strange- he usually had no problem with killing anyone, so as long as he had a good reason for it.

A nuisance and a deadweight should've been good reasons.

"You don't have his consent; you can't force him," he eventually whispered.

"But- ...You're not a doctor!" Chevy protested, remembering the acupuncture treatment from way back. "So why-"

"That was a minor operation, Chevy-kun," Hiroki reminded him. "It did no harm. This is too different of a matter to be taken as lightly as you're taking it. I can sympathize with your anxiety and worries, but whether to acquire a prosthesis or not is up to Mustang-san. No doubt that our doctor and I will never perform a severe surgery like this without his permission-"

"Please, at least think about it! I'll convince him!"

He stopped and stared at the raise of volume.

It really wasn't like the third brother to be so outspoken.

He wasn't wrong either. What if they ran into bigger troubles? A missing limb would put them all in jeopardy no matter how one thinks of the situation.

"...I will begin developing one," Hiroki answered, caving in to the demand. "But understand that I will not execute it until you do your part."

* * *

There was a sickness about _Maria_.

There was also a sickness about him.

No, he had no fever, no cough, nothing of that sort, and like Sloth had predicted, the syphilis didn't infect him. Yet, Killer couldn't bear to step out. The air inside his stuffy bedroom was more breathable than the outside's- the sickness was suffocating.

He couldn't focus, yet his mind was hollow. The paper in front of him remained blank- as it had for the past hour that he'd been staring at it. The ink had already dried on the quill, and he'd completely lost where he was in the book he was reading as the tiniest of breezes from the opened windows rustled and turned the pages for him. What characters of the Poneglyph he'd understood previously now became alien.

_I'm not making any progress like this._

_What time is it?_

The sun was near setting outside.

How long had he locked himself in here? How many days had passed?

"You're not quiet enough," he said out loud, not even glancing at the door. "Kidd."

Having been found out, the handle turned and in stepped the redhead, who kept his eyes on the ground as he closed the door. And locked it.

The clicks sent chills up his spine.

"I think that we both had enough, Killer," was the first words spoken.

"Your boots squeaked too much," he criticized. "When you stopped, your footstep tapped louder than all the previous steps."

There was a bitter chuckle. "You're not even going to look at me?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. _Stop._

"Get out." The air was getting bad already.

"...Your hands are shaking," Kidd noticed.

His chest tightened. "Get out!"

What happened next was not what he'd expected.

A hand snatched him by the upper arm, brought him out of his chair, and slammed him against a bookshelf before he could blink. Stunned by the speed, Killer couldn't react for a moment, only then coming to his senses seconds later by swinging a punch across Kidd's face. The other reeled backward, blood dribbling from cuts on his lips and teeth, but the grip merely grew rougher. _When the hell did he get so strong!_

Kidd slammed him against the bookshelf again, causing the books to tumble and rain upon them.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" the masked man snarled, trying to bend down to pick them up.

He was trapped. "Books? You care more about _books_ than me?" Kidd spat right back.

"Don't barge in and-"

"Stop screwing with me, Killer! I'm _through_ with it! Why the hell do I have to get out? You owe me a fucking explanation!"

He was cornered like a rat. The torment that he'd been dodging couldn't be dodged anymore. Shaken, enraged, scared, the masked man kept his gaze away from Kidd's face, thanking the invisible deity above that he was wearing a mask.

How humiliating would be his expression now? What a relief was it to have a wall to coward behind, not that it was much of a wall anymore. The rest of him were exposed. If looks could rape, then he'd be fucked a thousand times over in that few wordless seconds. The heated gaze scorched his soul and left his body cold. He could muster up no justification, no excuse.

"What do you want?" was all he choked out.

Killer had expected anything but silence, but once again, he was surprised.

"You don't know what you want," he concluded in a low voice when nothing was said. "This is exactly what I'm talking about, Kidd. You're childish, you're confused and infatuated with a cru-"

"I _do_ know what I want! Why the hell do you keep trying to think my thoughts for me?" the younger man cut him off. "First you pushed me into this piracy business without telling me shit, then I became captain and you still refuse to see me the way I am, and now you decide to wave me off as a joke for some who-the-fuck-knows reason that you won't tell me! I'm sick of it all, Killer, just how stupid do you take me for? I _know_ what I want, and you know it too because I _told_ you!"

"Only because there are no women on the ship!"

"Fuck women!"

Killer slapped him across his face, silencing him. The sound rang around the room as a red mark swelled on Kidd's cheek.

"You're a liar, Killer."

He answered nothing.

"If you don't like men, you would've said so by now," the stinging voice continued, prickling his heart like needles. "It's not about the crew not having a woman, is it?"

Guilt tied his tongue.

"You're not as good at hiding things as you think you are."

A lump settled in his throat, and he suddenly found it hard to breath. "Don't talk to me like you understand, you brat. Keep away from me if you're smart."

"But why!"

_Damn it._

"Because you'll kill me! And I don't want to die!"

To say that Kidd was confused was an understatement.

"...What do you mean? Why would I want to kill you?" he asked, and leaned closer to his first mate, and off-topically noticed their evenness in height.

"You'll kill me-" "Are you saying that you're afraid of me?" "I'm not!" "Then what? You should know that I'll never hurt you!"

He snapped.

"You idiot, there's more than one way to kill someone!"

"I'm not going to kill you!"

"You'll kill me," said first mate kept on insisting. "You don't know it now, but you'll kill me someday!"

"Then I'll die first!"

Killer opened his mouth to defy more, but nothing came out.

What a thoughtless declaration.

_You're too naïve and idealistic, Kidd,_ he thought sadly, struggling to breath. A small fever was on the rise. _You're already killing me now._

The redhead closed in, and pressed his dark lips on the mask where Killer's own lips would be had it not been there, causing the other to flinch in shock. No one had came as near to his face as this in years. The grip had loosen. He shoved Kidd away.

"Killer, look at me," came the plead.

"I'm looking at you-" "No, you're not!" "I'm wearing a mask, in case you haven't noticed-" "I know you're not looking at me! Just look and listen!"

_Get out, please get out._

"I know what I want, but I won't force you. If you truly hate me, say it, and I promise that I won't go near you again."

His squeezed his eyes shut. _What the _fuck_ are you saying?_

If only it had been worded differently.

If only.

_Hate you?_

He got five seconds.

When that five seconds had passed, Kidd's lips had latched themselves on his neck, the teeth scraping his skin. Two hands grasped the collar of his shirt trying to tear it apart, then wised up, yanking and fumbling at the buttons instead. The red fur coat dropped on the floor, discarded as Kidd's half-naked body pressed against his.

A hardening erection brushed against his leg, stimulating a stir within his groin.

It took a while for him to see the happy grin that Kidd was trying to hide.

"You didn't say no," the redhead muttered, peeling back the shirt.

Everything did an one-hundred and eighty degree turn- literally, and figuratively. The heat from the small fever transformed into an entirely different kind of hot as a mouth attacked him once more. He was abruptly pushed in some unknown direction, and didn't realize where they were heading until he found himself landing with a soft _thud_ on his own bed. During this whole time, Kidd never stopped touching him.

_Just let it go?_

"You're impossible," he whispered, suppressing a gasp just as a tongue licked his left nipple, lingering on a healing cut on the chest.

"Is that a bad thing?" Kidd stopped for a moment to question.

"...I don't know," he admitted.

_I'm going to regret this._

"Then don't wonder."

"You're the one who-" At the same time, Kidd's arm accidentally brushed against his own hard-on, and that was when Killer learned of the one scenario where reverse psychology doesn't work. A raw moan escaped his throat by the touch, making the other man freeze, registering the mouth-drying sound.

What did he do that made Killer sound like that? The younger pondered as he unzipped the jeans in front of him and desperately pulled it off, vision clouded by desire. He was a little overwhelmed himself to think it thoroughly, but he liked it, he was reacting to it, and he'll do whatever the fuck to find out what it was.

A hand crept and grabbed hold of his tightened pants, reminding him that he had to take it off too.

Killer didn't hate this. That was all he needed to know.

Scrambling, Kidd unhooked his pants and shook it off, discarding it on the floor. Both in the last of their clothing, their erections were conspicuous to each other's sight. Kidd subconsciously brought a hand down to his the same time that he was trying to touch Killer's the way he'd imagined doing, stroking himself through the damping cloth. It _was_ supposed to be touched, wasn't it? He wasn't aware of the way that his first mate was looking at him, stupefied at what was happening.

He looked up as his first mate pushed aside the offered hand, sat up and took the one that Kidd's was using to pleasure himself instead.

"That's not how you do it." The husky voice and the breath against his neck ached his cock as the last piece of articles were taken off of him, exposing his entire body to the cold air. "Don't tell me that haven't even done this properly yet."

Killer's hand guided his around the reddened shaft to a tender squeeze, nudging the leaking tip, and-

"Ah!" he cried out as a stream of white shot out without a warning, coating their hands. The masked man stopped.

Kidd didn't know why, but blood instantly flushed his face. "Uh..." he attempted to speak as Killer removed his hold, and shrank back.

His first mate looked away.

"Enough," he said. "You can go now."

_Huh?_

"What the fuck!" Kidd objected, leaning forward and turned the blond's head with force, face red for a whole another reason. "I'm not done yet!"

But that single mistake seemed to have brought back the stubbornness that he'd fought so hard to crush.

_This is for his own good,_ was the single thought running through Killer's head as angry frustration dictated Kidd's face. Who were they kidding? Kidd had came just by a small touch- he was obviously was never prepared in the first place. What the hell was he doing complying to a whim like this? The eighteen year old was driven by hormones, with that natural curiosity that every young men experienced when they were young. Now that he'd experimented it, he could move on.

Killer would take care of this formed 'problem' of his own later.

"That's how it goes," he said in a neutral tone. "The rest is by the book, and you'll learn in time the deviations of sexual tastes-"

"Stop trying to give me a damn lecture in the middle of this, Killer!" Kidd snarled, taking him by surprise as he shoved the older man down onto the bed, looming awfully close over him. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Don't think you can 'teach' me anything when you're feeling it yourself! I already gave you a chance to turn back, so let me tell you how it's going to go." He ground down, rubbing their cocks together as another erection grew, and held back a groan, his train of thought interrupted for a moment. "We're going to fuck, and I'm going to make sure you like it."

"That's not-"

"Shut up unless you hate it for real!"

Without warning, Kidd yanked down his shorts, and took his semi-hard member in a cold hand, holding him in place. He moaned at the icy sensation that was traveling up and down and speeding up. The movement was still awkward, amateurish, but the pleasure was undeniable as he began reacting, lifting his hips in response.

How could he hate it? Deep down inside, Killer still argued that it was too soon. But he didn't hate it.

_Shut up,_ he told himself.

The hand suddenly left him. "Kidd?" he called.

His legs were hoisted up and pried apart.

"Oi, you-" Before he could voice his concern seeing the dumbass proceeding, the regret came sooner than he'd thought as Kidd spread his cheeks apart, lined his member up with the unsuspected entrance and-

Killer's next scream was ear-shattering.

…

"YOU IDIOT!"

...

"H- Hold on, Killer!" Kidd shouted nervously as he grabbed the infuriated blond's losing erection, infuriating said infuriated blond more. Blood was dripping on the sheet

"Which one of us are you talking to, me or the dick?" he hissed venomously, voided of anything but mortification, pissed as hell and conscience abandoned. "You fucking ass-shat, you don't know what the hell you were going to do at all, do you? That why I said-"

"Wait, did I put it in the wrong place? I thought that since it's the only hole-"

_Smack!_ "I'm going to fucking murder you!"

"I'll pull out!"

"NO! DON'T!"

There was a knock on the door, startling both of them.

"Killer-san, we heard you screaming," Chevy's voice asked with doubtful concern. "Is everything all right?"

...

_Fuck._

"We're doing fine!" Kidd shouted before he could answer. "Don't bother us!"

"...B- Boss, why are you in Killer-san's room too?"

Killer mentally grimaced.

"J- Just go away!" Kidd screamed with desperation.

"But dinner's ready soon-"

"We're not gonna eat! Bother us in the morning!"

"Uh-" Outside, Chevy backed away from the door at that tone of voice, growing rather suspicious of what was going on in there. It occurred to him a second later, the conclusion painting his face bright red. "O-Okay, y-you settle it between yourselves!" He high-tailed away at top speed.

...

Inside, neither of them were very happy.

Looking back to the situation in hand, Kidd gulped.

"When I'm adjusted," Killer began in a glacial low, monotone. "You get the fuck out of me and stand up against that wall. Then I'll take out a knife, slit your throat, skin you while you're still alive, and use your dead body as Sea King bait tomorrow morning."

"That's overdoing it, you bastard!" the scared captain barked.

"Who the hell are you accusing of overdoing it, you moron? If you want to go all the way, you could've at least prepared me or warned me beforehand!"

"I didn't know!"

"You- I- How- That's common sense!" The masked man closed his eyes with disbelief at Kidd's stupidity. "And how are you still hard?"

Kidd turned redder. "You're clenching around me, and... Does it still hurt?"

_This is humiliating._

"Killer, I'm moving."

"No-"

But Kidd had already started. He bit his lips from crying out loud as the younger slowly pulled out... And thrust back in.

"Oi, I told you not to-"

"Killer, I'd kiss you to shut you up, but since I can't, just shut up and trust me!" came the snap. "If I have to say it one more time, I'll take your mask off and do the job!"

So he pressed his lips together and bared it as the thrust came again a little stronger, and grunted, feeling nothing but pain, cursing the fucktard who came up with anal sex to eternal damnation. Either Kidd was doing it wrong, or all the hype about it were bullshit. Yet for some reason, his breathing and heart wouldn't steady, falling into the rhythmic beats with their bodies that was getting faster by the second. The heat and the noises from the redhead above him helped him regain his erection, and with that, some pleasure as he reached down and touched himself, biting back the sounds that threatened to come out.

"Let it out," the other man begged.

"Can't, they'll hear us- Ah!" Stars danced behind his eyelids as Kidd slammed against a spot, sending wave-like vibes shocking his entire body and his mind into a frenzy. His member wept, the pre-cum dripping down as Kidd, catching on the first time, thrust against the same place again.

He clenched his teeth, never wanting to scream so badly.

"Killer, your hips are moving with mine," Kidd commented between moans and gasps. "Did you like it now?"

"Shut up- Fuck- Ah! Mmph!" His teeth drew blood from his lips, his hand never stopped moving.

_Hurry up!_

And the pleasure exploded like a supernova.

The climax was blinding. His right arm grabbed hold of Kidd's neck as he arched off the bed, didn't know how he was capable to keeping the cry down as he came. A moment later, the captain followed as the ring of muscles tightened around his cock, sinking his teeth into Killer's neck, barely muffling his voice. Inside his head, Kidd's name rang over and over for the chance that he never got to scream it, and like what always happened after love-making, their bodies hit the soft bed, enjoying the messy aftermath of sex.

Finally Kidd pulled out a minute later as they lay there, drenched in sweat, semen and a little blood.

He stared at the blood.

"...Sorry," he muttered into the nape of his first mate's neck, who, feeling the hot breath, attempted to push him away. Slightly ticked by the action, he threw an arm around the others waist and brought him back. "I'll do better next time, all right? I was just a little hasty this time! Besides, I didn't know!"

Killer sighed, turned around, and was about to speak but got stopped. Kidd was already asleep.

His eyes twitched. _That fast?_

* * *

The night came and went.

Killer wasn't used to sleeping sideways, nor was he used to sleeping naked. His body felt uncomfortably sticky as he stirred from his sleep, trying to shift his position in bed, only to find it impossible with the grip around his waist. His pillow felt rather... flesh-like.

One eyes cracked opened just as he remembered what happened the night before, and he swore under his breath at the sight of Kidd. Blood pinked his face from the replay, couldn't believe that he actually went through with it.

_What the fuck was I thinking? And with this idiot who didn't even know what he was doing too._ The light blush darkened, and he was only thankful that no one could see it.

Said idiot was sleep sound asleep with a mouth hanging a bit wide, the slightest of drool dribbling out.

"Oi... Kidd..." Killer called, shaking the redhead a little.

_Damn it, I should've made him go back to his room,_ he thought regrettably, noticing his inability to leave such a wrapped up state. Kidd's arm felt like an iron bar keeping him in place. _What am I? A stuffed animal?_

No response.

"Moron, wake up and let me go!" the masked man hissed.

_Snore._

A vein popped on his forehead, and he roughly yanked Kidd's arms up and tossed the limb back to its rightful owner.

_I need a shower..._ The numerous awkward bite marks, smeared lipsticks, and bruises did not escape his attention. He looked back at the sleeping man on his bed, and then back to himself. With realization, the embarrassment flooded him like a tsunami.

_I bottomed._

Killer's shoulders slumped with grave depression.

_I'm three years older than him, still stronger, and more experienced. _This was irking. _How the hell did he top me?_

"'I'll do it better next time' my ass," he muttered irritatedly, let out a heavy sigh, and stood up._ Like the hell will I let an incompetent, stupid idiot like you go anywhere near-_

A pain like he'd never known before stopped his movement and rendered him wobbling just as he tried to take a step, halting all thoughts.

Wrath began boiling like water in his blood.

At the same time, Kidd's body and mind decided that it'd be the perfect moment to wake up. The captain yawned and blinked awake, only to be greeted by the sight of his first mate looming over him naked.

It would've been a wonderful sight in any other scenarios. Would've.

"Mm... Killer?"

There was a murderous, icy aura dancing around the man. The temperature of the room was declining drastically. Frost seemed to be forming on the walls. The masked blond demon had a fist raised dangerously over his head.

And Kidd knew that he was in big trouble.

"W-Wait a minute! What did I do-"

_WHAM!_

* * *

_Bam!_ The door to the kitchen flew open, startling all of the crew members as their captain entered the room in a rather... bizarre condition.

Kidd had a black eye, three swelling red bumps on top of each other on his head, several cuts on his face, a bruised cheek, and may or may not had missing teeth. His shoulders slumped as he walked, and his hair stuck out this way and that, disheveled even with his goggles restraining it. Everyone stared at him as he went over to the counter, took a plate and silently piled food on it. They exchanged glances, but said nothing.

Chuckie, unfortunately, did not get the mutual agreement between the adults.

"Oi, Boss, where's Killer-san? He's usually up early," the child asked, staring at the captain with suspicion.

"..." Did Kidd just shiver? "He... He has trouble walking, so he couldn't get up."

Naturally, the next question that followed was, "Why does he have trouble walking?"

Chevy blushed and sunk lower in his chair. The two other brothers froze. Hiroki coughed. Sloth set down his ale. Ren looked at each and every one of them, chewing her cookies cluelessly.

Kidd turned beet red and fled.

A question mark popped above Chuckie's head. "Eeeh? He didn't answer me," he said with a pouting frown, and looked to Mustang. "Why does Killer-san have trouble walking?"

…

"Why," Mustang answered after a moment, smiling his trademark pedo-smile as he put down his coffee. "It's because-" In a flash, Camry knocked him in the face with the bottom of a hot pan.

_Wham!_ The wall dented from the impact. The oldest brother dropped like a fly's flattened body peeling off.

"Killer-san is suffering from a symptom of the I-Have-A-Brainless-Moron-For-A-Captain-Itis," the cook proceeded to lie with smooth-sailing seriousness.

_That's actually not far from the truth..._ Hiroki thought as Mustang's foot twitched twice in the air.


	51. One and One

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Kiku90, awesomeness, Cloverskeet, kiwiuchi, Skadi Glastheim, crazydemonmoon, Fluffy_ and _RedValentino_ for reviewing! Now a little lightheartedness to brighten up the mood. A thanks goes to _doriansburial_, who helped me with a certain German term about two months ago that will be used here.

To _Fluffy_: Oh, he's coming up all right. Unfortunately for you, you'll have to figure out which one's him, because there's gonna be a swamp of OCs all over again.

To _awesomeness_: That can't be revealed until the end, but they're plenty of hints, so most of you should be able to figure out why in time. ;)

Anyway, a little **WARNING** here to cover this entire arc; my characters are not me, and we may or may not believe in the same things, who knows but myself. Everything is done for the purposes of entertainment and reflection of their characterizations, although some of the stuff that I'm going to put out might cause some controversies. So just be dears, keep your minds open, and don't take this next few chapters seriously, because I know that someone out there is going to get the wrong idea and act offended.

Just to review the timeline of this fic in correspondence to canon, the Straw-hat crew should be finishing with the Davy Back Fight.

* * *

_Maria_ and her passengers had more or less resumed to their normal selves, like the last few weeks were all a nightmare that they had forgotten about.

Hours before, they were caught in a typhoon, and barely made their escape. Right now, the brothers argued clamorously amongst each other as they got to work with cleaning up the mess the storm had caused, throwing lethal, sharp objects around without the slightest concern. Killer set out his entire shelves, drying his precious books on the deck, which Kidd was most unhappily mopping. Sloth and Ren cleaned the back deck.

Several rooms needed to be rebuilt. The engine had water clogged in some parts of the system- luckily, the wind was decent and the sails weren't torn too badly.

Hiroki supposed that it was his misfortune as the shipwright to end up the busiest.

What happened several days before did not help.

Indeed, everyone knew that a little something-something was going on between their captain and the first mate. First, Chevy had burst into the kitchen blushing like crazy, then the morning after, the certain controversy involving the whole "Why Killer-san can't get out of bed?" happened, and ever since then, Killer seemed to be coming more and more frequently out of Kidd's bedroom every morning than his own. There was no question to anyone- except Chuckie, although he seemed to be catching on too- of what was going on, even though everyone tried be respectful of those two's privacy and not mention anything.

He just never thought that he'd be approached about the subject.

Flashing back to days ago...

"_Oi, you, Hiroki."_

_The black-haired man set down the multicolor bundle of wires in his hands, and looked up at the redhead by the doorway, who glanced twice around the orlop/the shipwright's workshop with suspicious caution, before shutting the door behind him. _

_He blinked quizzically. "Yes?"_

"_I have a request," Kidd initiated._

_It wouldn't have been strange had the captain not been avoiding his eyes the whole time._

"_A request," he echoed. "Are you sure it can't wait? I'm afraid that I'm rather busy with the ship as it is."_

_Still refusing to look at him. Hiroki raised an eyebrow at this._

"_It's an emergency!"_

_An emergency, huh? He frowned, wondering just what sort of possible emergency could one have in the middle of the ocean. "Care to relate this more elaborately?"_

"_W- Well..." Kidd was actually turning a little pink. "Killer and I, we uh, have been... You all know what by now anyway! We've been screwing!"_

_This abnormal sight and the even more abnormal declaration rendered him speechless. In what way was this his business again? "Ano," he began, deciding to get any potential misunderstandings straightened out before they could be caused. "I think that I can speak for the rest of the crew when I say that we have no problem with this relationship that you have with Killer-san. None of us holds intolerance against those kind of things, so please don't worry and get the wrong idea from our silence. We're just a little surprise, that's all-"_

"_That's not what I'm here for!" the captain snapped, turning pinker. "But you bastards better not have any problems with it, or I'll hurl you off the ship!"_

_Hiroki sweat-dropped at the empty threat. "...Go on."_

" _Y-You see-" _No, I don't see._ "-When we do 'stuff'... Because the walls are... Uh...thin. And Killer has to bite his lips to keep it down sometimes..." He was getting more flushed by the seconds. It was quite amusing to watch. "S- So, I was just thinking that since you're in charge of the ship's modifications, it's your jobs to... Make the walls thicker... or something."_

_It clicked. _Oh.

"_You want me to sound-proof your room?" he concluded._

"_Exactly!" Kidd said. "So how long will it take?"_

_His eyebrows furrowed as he gave Kidd a dead-panned look._ Really... I feel sorry for Killer-san. _"I don't know if you've considered this, Sencho, but your need for sexual satisfaction doesn't count as an emergency." _

"_Shut up!" the redhead barked back. "It's a Captain's Order so just do it, you Yakuza-bastard!"_

Which was how he ended up on the second floor, burdened with the task of modifying the walls of the Captain's Quarter rather than fixing what he was supposed to fix. He was going to be stuck working for quite a while.

* * *

The sight of civilization on the next island came like a breath of relief as _Maria_ approached the shabby-looking wooden dock. Camry, who was looking into the binocular, zoomed in on the sign above a mock-gate that opened into a pathetically structured town. A mock-gate, because there were no walls surrounding the town, making the existence of such entrance pointless. Beyond the gate, the houses- none over three stories tall- were all either rundown or just plain poorly constructed. It didn't seem to be a big kingdom of any sort, at least.

"Shamtown," he read in a murmur, and frowned. It didn't look suspicious, but it didn't look all that friendly either. "Oi, Boss, we're here."

"Yeah," Kidd answered back as the cook stepped out. The captain's sight fixed on their destination, his face twitching with disdain. "What is this?"

"Looks like a rough place," Mustang opinionated, looking around as they hit the harbor. "There are a lot of bars."

"And a lot of pirate ships," Hiroki added, glancing at the numerous vessels flying Jolly Rogers to their right and left. "There must not be a strong World Government presence here, if any. It seems like a pirate hotspot to me."

"Should we...?" Chevy wondered with uncertainty.

Kidd rolled his eyes, still not pleased about how tattered-looking a place they encountered. With all the hype about Grand Line and what they'd experienced last island, he'd really anticipated something better than this... trash. "Feh, like we got a choice," he huffed, walked over to the rail, and hopped down onto the wooden dock. "We're stuck here until I set." He turned and looked back up to his crew. "Someone get Killer so he can buy all the shits we need. I'm going!"

And with a wave, he walked on.

The rest of them exchanged looks, and got to work.

* * *

By the time that Chevy called for him, Killer had already been up for over two hours and done with shower, his hair still slightly wet, damping his entire back as he gathered up his clothes around the Captain's quarter. He didn't miss the fact that over half of his clothes were in Kidd's room already from all the nights he'd spent over there. Scoffing under his breath, Killer dismissed the idea of actually moving in, and emerged out.

_Shamtown? What a funny name,_ the masked man thought dryly as he descended the stairs to be greeted by the shipwright, who held out a list of needed materials gathered from the rest of the crew.

He took the roll of paper, divided it up into three, sent one third to Mustang and Sloth, the other third to Chevy and Camry, and firmly ordered Chuckie to stay on the ship with Hiroki, who had plenty of reconstructing to occupy his time. Ren was shut in the kitchen with a plate of cookies to keep her happy. It didn't please him to know that their idiot of a captain had already went ahead by himself. Knowing Kidd, it'd be the best if he finds him as soon as possible before trouble starts.

Walking down the streets, Shamtown didn't look like the typical heart-warming civilian town at all.

_Bam!_ The door of a nearby bar flew apart as a man was thrown across the road, the crowd inside jeering loudly as a brutish giant of a man stepped out, crackling his knuckles with insane relish, and pounded the bleeding fellow to death. Blood and screams joined in the air at the same time.

Killer, like the rest of the passersby, stopped to witness for a moment before moving on.

"Hahaha! That bastard deserves what he's got! Oi! Good job Haidomor!"

The brute named Haidomor grunted twice, tossed the corpse to the other end of the street, smashing it right into the house across, and went back inside.

_They're all pirates,_ the blond thought, stealing a look into the bar as he walked by the wide doorway. _This town is littered with pirates. How's that possible?_ He frowned. _Unless they passed by the Hell Kaiser's island and acquired the magnetic field to get here, they shouldn't be here._

_There was another way?_

Disregarding his shopping duties for a minute, Killer twisted his steps and entered the dim drinking establishment.

He strolled straight up to the stools, sat himself by an inconspicuous end, placed an order for a small glass of ale, and eavesdropped.

"Bwahahaha!" the captain of the crew that'd dominated the bar guffawed, pounding a fist up and down with the manner of a beast, shaking the creaking wooden table. "Serve that bastard right! No one tricks me and gets away with it! Eh? Didn't I tell you that taking him hostage will do us good? Didn't I?"

"Ay, but it's still bad for us," a man with a circle of wound around his neck whom Killer presumed to be the first mate of that crew said with angry grievance. "Even though we did get our money back, we only sailed into dead waters again. What are we going to do now? Our Log Pose's already set and we've barely been here for two hours. Coming here from Mocktown using an Eternal Pose was a waste of time!"

"Don't ruin the mood by reminding me, you bastard!" the captain snapped, gulping down a full bottle, the liquor dribbling down his chin.

_An Eternal Pose? To here?_

"Hmph," the man continued without heed to his captain's resentment, smirking. "First those fools at Mocktown claimed that the reason why our Log Pose pointed up was because of some fictitious sky islands, now it's Sparts with here. Hahaha! It's a choice between a nonexistent heaven or a hellhole of demons! Hahaha!"

At this, Killer narrowed his eyes behind his mask. _Sparts?_

* * *

"Sparts?"

On the other side of the Shamtown, a certain redhead with goggles sat laid-back in a chair, a large drink in his hand in the middle of a drunken crowd. His face was tense from the atmosphere and the taunting looks he was getting from the co-captains of the pirate crew in the tavern. The rest around them partied on, gulping down great quantities of rum, grabbing the waitresses' asses and generally creating a huge ruckus with their ways.

Kidd took part in none of that, eyes set on the two smirking thugs.

"Oh? So you're a pirate too, brat," the older of the two slurred, rolling the 'R's in his speech, one eye opening wider than the other. "Wahahaha! Youngsters like you jump on board these days like crazy! How reckless! Nah? Think you're tough enough to try out Sparts, don't you?"

He didn't like the way he was talked to, but still he kept his cool. It was only a brush on the surface. "What the fuck is Sparts?"

"A land of demons! That's what it is!" the second shouted, lifting a whole barrel to his lips and drank heartily.

Sparts, whatever the hell it was, was all he'd been hearing about since he stepped into this tavern. From what he could understand, Shamtown was a gathering spot of some sort, and all the pirates on this island had came from other islands by Eternal Poses, all to escape whatever that was ahead of them in hope that a different island would offer something safer. Apparently, whatever Sparts was didn't fit their definition of a safe place.

"A land of demons?" He scoffed under his breath, his mind immediately recalling Ante, bringing a shiver down his spine and shadows over his eyes at the mere memory of the Kaiser being right _in_ his head that time, at the giant spider looming over him. What could be more hellish than that monster?

But this 'Sparts' was far worse, or so these men claimed.

"They say that it's a kingdom of inhumanity," the first said. "A kingdom surrounded by bones and skulls where no daylight was permitted! No one who went there came back!" His eyes flashed with fear. "Not even the World Government can crush them!"

_Not even the World Government?_ "...Oh?" Kidd smirked a tiny smirk. _Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me._

His tone of voice didn't bypass the older pirates.

"Oi, oi! What's with that cocky attitude, kid?"

_The next island, huh?_

"Wahaha! Don't tell us that you're actually planning to go there! You got a death wish?"

"Shut up," he said nonchalantly, deep in thought. Interest had been stimulated, and adrenaline pumped through his bloodstream. A land of demons that the proclaimed most powerful authority in the world couldn't control? This was either pure shit or pure excitement. He'd seen Hell and survived. What else could break him?

Kidd didn't care to notice the enraged look on the co-captains' faces, nor how wordless the tavern suddenly became.

"'Shut up'?" one of them echoed, glowering. Everyone backed away from the three, some snickering, and some with trouble look on their faces, sensing the coming danger.

The murderous air didn't bother him in the least. The redhead got up without answering and headed for the door, his rude posture and body language speaking nothing less than disrespect and heedlessness.

"Oi!" A knife flew by him and jabbed into the door, missing his neck by a hair. He stopped as the voice of the older of the co-captains boomed. "What the hell was that you ungrateful brat? You wanna die? Come back here and apologize! And maybe I'll be merciful and kill you now instead!" The rest of the crew were in arms, ready to fight at their superiors' order. Behind the counter, the bartenders and the waitresses busied themselves by rushing their precious liquors to the back door, not wanting to suffer anymore loss than the inevitable from the upcoming fight.

Kidd was grinning, a dormant hunger that he didn't know he had suddenly surfaced.

His sense of smell somehow sharpened as his dark lips pulled back like a shark searching for blood in water, and the hunger dictated his mind. There wasn't irritation- although that would've made more sense to him- but the sole desire to kill and to bath in the pleasure of taking their lives. For a split of second, he tried to question this irregularity, but it was quickly buried under the stirring hunger's weight.

"Hehehe," he found himself chuckling as he sneered at them. "The King of Pirates doesn't run from trouble, you bunch of cowards, trouble runs from me!"

There was a dead silence.

A muffled laugh.

And then it broke.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! So he's one of those stupid rookies who thinks that One Piece is real!"

The grin faded from Kidd's face.

"Kill him, captains! An idiot like him doesn't deserve to live!"

"No! No! Leave it to the demons!" another mocked. "He'll know when he gets his ass fucked by the Devil in hell! Ahahahaha!"

_Who do they think they're laughing at?_

"You're some unfortunate bastards," he hissed with rage, and raised an arm with a hand spread out, tingling with purple crackles. Killer wasn't here to stop him. "I'm going to rip you apart!"

"HAHAHA! That's the funniest thing I've heard all- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

_BOOM! BAM! WHAM!_ The guns and pistols exploded in careless hands, bullets zoomed blindly around the room as everyone drowned in screams and agony. Blades flew wildly in the massacre, stabbing random bodies and walls as the terrified people ran, no longer laughing at him. The short-lived anger faded, and once again, the blood-thirst emerged. A tiny part of him whispered 'Stop' in confusion and fear, and was shut up. In the mist of this chaos, Kidd himself started laughing with glee, enjoying it.

He didn't know that killing was so much... _fun._ Why hadn't this feeling occurred before?

"R- Run! He's insane!" That man's neck was immediately sliced off.

His unexplained euphoria was short-lived.

A foot kicked him in the gut, and he crashed into the chairs and tables, landing on his behind. The kick disillusioned him from the blood-thirst.

"What the hell are you doing, Kidd!" The icy aura was unmistakable.

_Killer? Shit!_

His attacks had stopped, but the tavern continued to empty.

"Get up!" Killer snarled, yanking him on his feet by the collar of his fur coat. "You sound like a fucking madman- You _were_ a fucking madman! I knew that I should've kept a better eye on you! Stop causing pointless trouble, you reckless moron!"

Everything subsided as he snapped awake. "Let go of me, damn it!" he huffed, wrenching himself from his first mate's grasp. "I was not-" The sight of the catastrophe he'd caused rendered his ability of speech, and he blinked with shock. Dead bodies lay all around them, impaled, organs and skulls smashed. Bottles and casks of beverages flowed from their containers, sweeping through the floor cracks. There was a bigger hole where the door used to be.

_I wasn't _this _angry_, he thought with confusion, now longer knew why he overdid it like so. _Was I?_

"They-" he began, trying to explain himself. "They were laughing at me!" It was the best he'd came up with.

"And where did your self-control go?" Killer shot back heatedly. "We're in luck that this place is a slum. Otherwise, we'd have marines hot on our tails by now! C'mon, Mustang and Sloth already got their hands on an Eternal Pose. We're changing routes."

_Hm?_

* * *

"How can you not heard of Sparts before?" Mustang asked with bewilderment, a strained expression on his face. They were all gathered on the main deck, supplies replenished with Hiroki working up on the second floor of the living quarter, fixing the roof but attentive as the oldest Chuck brother ranted. "That place is dangerous! We can't go there, Boss. There are tons of dreadful rumors floating around Grand Line about it! They said that-"

"It's a land of throat-cutting demons," Kidd finished for him in a bland tone, giving the crippled gunner an annoyed look.

"That's not what I was going to say," said gunner huffed, more annoyed.

Up on the roof, Hiroki set down his hammer for some seconds. "We'd really like more depth than 'throat-cutting demons', Mustang-san. Rumors are only rumors after all. Most of the time, they are delusions of the public."

"Yes but-" He was interrupted again.

"If I may," their doctor, who was holding the Eternal Pose, spoke up, looking towards the captain and the first mate for permission. Killer nodded at him to go ahead. "My former crew never took this route before, but Mustang is right, Sparts is well-known as a highly dangerous location on this sea. How dangerous, one can never be sure, but it's not a place to be taken lightly. I believe that you all know about the international alliance league established between countries and the World Government?"

They all exchanged looks.

"The World Government, created approximately eight hundred years ago by the collaboration of twenty kings after the Void Century, present-day is affiliated with roughly one hundred and seventy countries in this world. Over times, most major nations of the four Blues have joined in alliances, and because of this Golden Age of Piracy, all of the countries on Grand Line have been recruited as well- all except for Sparts," Sloth said. "It is the only known mass empire on this sea not under their control.

"The conflict didn't start in recent years, however. I believe that ever since the formation of the World Government, Sparts has been one of their main targets. Everything from open wars to attempted infiltrations had been tried, but for whatever reason, no mission ever succeeded. With Sparts' absolute isolationism from the rest of the world and how no ship going there ever returned, it led to many rumors and assumptions about the kingdom being a residence to demons and abominable monsters.

"If even the World Government cannot recruit it under their wings, I would advise that we avoid this route as well-"

"What are you all? A bunch of cowards?" Kidd snapped, his nerves rubbed. "'Avoid this, avoid that.'" He lifted up his head. "Don't give me that bullshit! We're aiming for One Piece, Gol D. Roger's title and ultimate treasure! What have we got to fear?"

"Death," Killer snapped back. "Think of the value of our lives for a moment, will you? I refuse to throw anyone's life away because of your unreasonable recklessness."

Sloth looked at the captain, stoic in expression. "Mustang and I have managed to acquire an Eternal Pose to Arabasta. From the information we gathered, it's a peaceful kingdom on a Summer Island, having just settled down after a rebellion and the arrest of Shichibukai Sir Crocodile."

"But we had a little trouble," Mustang informed during the small pause before the other could say more. "The guy we took it from said that after Arabasta, their Log Pose broke and refused to point anywhere but up, which is why they switched route. I say that we find another-"

"A Log Pose is never broken," the doctor corrected, glancing down at the smaller man. "It's perfectly possible for a Log Pose to point up- Arabasta most likely leads to a sky island, in that case."

"A sky island?" Chevy muttered.

"You mean heaven?" Chuckie questioned, looking at Sloth with big eyes filled with fascination. Ren plopped herself beside the boy, imitating her master, and too, gazed up at the blue-haired man. "With angels and God and everything? Are we going there for real?"

Without waiting for an answer, Kidd took the Eternal Pose from Sloth and held it up in the light, staring at the fancily-carved name of its designated destination. In the background, Chuckie and Ren started up a chant, running in circles happily about the possibility of going to a sky island.

And he single-handedly crushed it into a million pieces with his Devil Fruit power, alarming his nakamas as the glass shattered on the deck floor.

"AH!" the nine year old screamed with popped eyes at what the captain had done. "OI BOSS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT, YOU BASTARD? WE WERE GOING TO GO TO HEAVEN!"

"WOOF!" the worm barked with agreement.

"Shut up, Shrimp!" Kidd barked right back.

"_You_ shut up, jerk!" "Woof!" "Asshole!" "Woof, woof!" "Meanie!" "Woof!" "Poopypants!" _Smack!_ A hand slapped the back of his head. "OW!"

"Enough! Shut your trap, Chuckie!" Camry shouted, irritated.

The youngest furiously pouted and stomped off to sulk in a corner, stopping only to blow a raspberry at Kidd when he passed the redhead, causing said man to hiss at him.

Getting back to serious business, the captain turned back to the rest of the crew. "Why the fuck do we have to change route? And for what? Heaven?" "We're pirates! We don't fucking belong in heaven!" His lips lifted into a bitter scowl, rage building up in him at the constant reminder of Ante that wouldn't go away. "Like the hell does it exist anyway!"

"Kidd-" Killer tried to cut in.

"Set sail!" he ordered, completely cutting his first mate off. He then made his point clear as he looked to the blond right in the mask. "We're going to Sparts!"

* * *

The water was unusually calm, so calm that had there not been the smallest of breezes in the air to rustle his hair and his internal Log Pose to tell him that they were going in the right direction, Kidd would think that they had sailed into a Calm Belt. Up above him, he could see the changing of the sky as it went from a sunny blue to gray, then dark gray, and then even darker as time passed, until they were sailing in darkness with only his Devil Fruit power and the lantern which hung below the crow's nest as guidance.

They didn't see themselves smashing into shore- they felt _Maria_ stopping, the paddles hitting roughly against solid objects as she did so.

"Drop the anchor. Bring your weapons, but be sure to hide them well," Killer ordered with grudges in his voice as he strapped two swords onto the sash around his waist and hid a dagger up his right sleeves, sorely missing his scythes. "Mustang, you, Chuckie and Ren stay on board-"

"Wait, I wanna go too!" the boy protested before the next phrase could leave the first mate's mouth, looking up at the man with his best puppy eyes. "Please?"

"It's fine, Killer, let the shrimp go," Kidd said with a grin, seeing him irked and feeling the cold air around him. "Feh, you're like the mother of all mothers-" _Boink!_ "Bastard! Don't hit your own captain!"

"Shut up, you dipshit!" He turned his head and scowled at the boy. "Suit yourself, brat."

With a joyful laugh at the yes, the child ran ahead all of them, grabbed a rope that had just been attached to the rail, and leaped off before anyone could stop him. He landed on the beach, crunching sounds beneath his feet and- "Gaaaaaah!" His screech rang.

"Oi Chuckie!" Camry called overboard. "What the hell was that?"

"...Skulls... And bones... They're everywhere..." came the whimper.

"Indeed, the beach is made up of nothing but human skeletons," Hiroki observed from the operation room behind the bow, turning on the Fog Light function to give them a better view. A thin mist were emitting from the ground of bones. There was a musky, dying smell about this place. "There's a thick forest up ahead, although all the vegetation are dead."

Kidd wrinkled his nose. "Then, where's Sparts?"

"Behind that wall," Killer nodded towards center of the island, and the crew, save from Hiroki- who, inside the room, had binoculars- and Camry and Chuckie- who were too busy trying to get up onto the ship again and bickering with each other along the way- gathered and stared at the pointed direction.

"Where?" Chevy muttered. "I don't see any-" He squinted, and then leaned back. "...It's really black, that wall. "

"Now that we've spot it," the captain said with a mischievous smirk, one foot set on the rail. "What are we waiting for?"

_Crunch_, goes the bones.

* * *

The mist thickened the further they ventured into the "forest", which was nothing more than a bunch of dead trees and dried up weeds. It would've been less creepy had there been some noises of animals- like a cricket chirping, or an owl hooting- but the fact that the only sounds they heard throughout the entire way were their own footsteps made this even more unnerving than intended. Kidd kept waiting for the rumored demons to ambush them every second.

"Oi, Shrimp," he whispered, making Chuckie jump a foot in the air. "Sing something."

"Uh... Huh?" A question mark popped above the boy's head. "Why?"

"Don't fool around," Killer scolded.

"Are we there yet?" Chuckie whined.

"No."

"How about now?"

"No!"

"Aw. Now?" _Smack!_ "Ow! That hurt!"

"**CEASE!**"

The pirates spun and lifted their head up in alert at the new voice to see a metal gate guarded by two guards... And if they thought that Sloth was eccentric, then this was certainly beyond any of their expectations.

The two guards, standing by either side of the closed entrance each holding a long sharp spear, stood like tall stone statues, so imposed and stoic in manner that they'd put both their doctor and shipwright to shame. Currently, one of them was holding up an arm, his palm thrust in their faces to stop them. They both wore long black veil-like cloaks with a v-shaped design that resembled antennas, tight leather tops, fishnet stockings and exceedingly high black heels that even the most scandalous of women shouldn't be able to handle.

"**STRANGE ONES! COME FORTH AND IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!**" the one at the left thundered at the same volume.

Kidd, despite his crew's unease, walked casually forward, musing to himself with a mix of disappointment and interest. Face to face, the two guards peered down at them, their faces still unreadable as they waited for the pirate to speak.

"My name is Eustass Kidd, future King of Pirates, and that's my crew following me," Kidd introduced himself without a hint of cowardice- almost with hubris and supremacist arrogance to some extent. "This is Sparts, is it not?"

The two Spartians shared a long look, and narrowed their eyes as the rest of the strangers gathered behind this foreigner that had stepped foot on their soil.

One slammed his spear up and down, getting their immediate attention.

_What strength,_ Kidd thought wearily as the ground shook by the movement

"I am designated with the name of Zizizag," he spoke in a loud, but acceptably normal volume. "And my comrade to my left is designated with the name of Zozozuk! To pass beyond the gate of Sparts and be welcomed as guests, your intelligence must meet our qualifications! I will ask a question of our highest grade to you, and you must answer to our satisfaction! The smart ones may live and pass! The stupid ones must die!"

Instantly, Killer reached forward, pulled Kidd away, and shoved Hiroki forward.

"Wha-" The captain cried in surprise, then seethed with outrage. "What the hell are you implying by pulling me away, Killer!"

He was ignored.

"If you can't answer it, I'll back you up," the first mate told the shipwright, who nodded, and turned to Zizizag.

"Are you calling me stupid, you mother-loving bookworm? You think I can't answer a simple question by myself-"_ Wham!_

"Shut up, baka."

Kidd growled at him.

"I stand on behalf of my crew's intelligence," Hiroki began. "Whatever your riddle is, I am sure that I will be able to solve."

"No usage of the conditional tense, but the future tense? You sound awfully confident, black one," Zizizag said, meeting his eyes. "But many who claimed the same met their destruction at our spears!" He slammed it once to emphasize his point. "Very well, I will proceed. You will have to give me an answer, and an explanation behind the answer in order to pass!"

Chevy gulped.

"What is one plus one?"

Hiroki frowned, rather taken aback. "Two..." he replied, wondering if this was a trick question.

"And why is that?" Zozozuk asked, glaring down with an imperative gaze. "Explanation is vital!"

"One plus one equals two," the pirate said straightforwardly. "Because it's not only common sense, but-"

"WRONG!" they roared, cutting him off. "ONE PLUS ONE DOES NOT EQUAL TWO! ENEMIES! INTRUDERS ALERT!"

"What the- Oi, Hiroki!" Camry shouted, jumped in front of the black-haired man- who'd already made his getaway- and blocked their spears with a boomerang. It cracked under pressure. "Shit!"

_BOOM!_ The spears broke through, barely missed him, and split the ground.

"INTRUDERS! PIRATES! FOREIGN BARBARIANS!"

"What the hell is going on?" Killer shouted as they came for him. In a flash, both swords were out, and he ran, meeting their attacks. Weapons crashed against one another, sending ripples of wind as their strengths collided. _They're too strong!_ His heels abraded the ground; he was losing his stand.

"DIE!" The swords fractured.

_No!_

"ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS FIVE!"

And they stopped in mid-movements.

"Because," Kidd said, smirking. "If a man and a woman come together and have three children, that makes five from one and one."

His crew all gaped, stunned. ..._Huh?_

"W- What?" Killer stuttered with disbelief. "That has to be the stupidest, most illogical reason for-"

"YOU ARE CORRECT!"


	52. The Man Who's Always Right

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _Skadi Glastheim, Kiku90, Cloverskeet, smexyforever, Lisa, awesomeness, Hell Changer, Hyouton Inuki, Savage Valentine, Fluffy_ and _Tally Mai-Chan_ for reviewing!

A short chappie. Originally, all of them were supposed to be exceedingly long, but I want to update before my winter break is over, so here it is. You get a glimpse into part of the madness instead of having it all explode in your face at once. It's better like this anyway, methinks.

Heed my warning, reader's discretion is advised. :P Also, excessive One Piece logic up ahead! Scientists beware!

Edited for some added dialogues and grammar mistakes. OTL

* * *

Kidd ego must have swelled twice its original size watching the simultaneous reactions of his crew mates when the Spartian gate guards declared him right. Really, intelligent or not, how could the rest of them be so... He couldn't find the proper word in his limited vocabulary to describe them, smirking with prideful satisfaction at beating everyone else at something. Maybe uncreative?

"Oi..." Camry said, an eyebrow twitching. "Did they just say that he's _correct_?"

"I believe they did," Hiroki answered with equal concern.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Killer growled, steadying on his feet as Zizizag and Zozozuk left him and marched towards Kidd. "There's no way that one plus one can ever be five, or that idiot getting a mathematical question right, even if it _is_ something this simple!"

"Boss is an idiot," Chuckie echoed.

A vein popped on said idiot's head. "I saved you all!" he barked at the them. "Feel a little gratitude at least, you ungrateful, sorry-ass bastards!"

Paying no heed to the argument between the pirates, the Spartians stood rigidly, slammed their spears down twice, and suddenly each thrust their right arms forward out at a perfect ninety degrees angle to their straight bodies right in Kidd's face, who jumped back in surprise and furrowed his forehead at this eccentric way of saluting- or he thought that it was what they were doing. They remained as stone-faced as ever as they spoke in sync.

"We, warriors of Sparts, welcome you, Comrade Zidd, to our empire in the name and intelligence of our deities and our righteous and glorious leader!" they declared, not moving an inch. "You may proceed beyond our gate this moment on forth if you wish to become part of us, or you may peacefully depart!"

"Then what about them?" Kidd jabbed a thumb at the rest of the crew. "They're my underlings, you know." He sneered up at them, his rudeness seemed to be going over their heads as much as their changing of his name had gone over his. "They can go in with me, can't they?"

He would choose sailing, but he had no idea how long it'd take for him to set on this island.

Besides- he smirked smugly over their shoulders at a ticked Killer-, he quite liked this place so far.

Zizizag and Zozozuk exchanged glances, and then nodded at each other before replying, "The re-education of the stupid ones won't be out of question. However, if they do not comply and resist with their foreign, backward ways, we will show no mercy!"

"...'Foreign'?" Chevy murmured.

"'Backward'?" the masked man hissed, outraged. "_Stupid ones?_"

"...Perhaps we shouldn't be so ethnocentric about this?" Hiroki muttered, unsure whether or not to go by his own preachment for once. "They _are_ a different culture..."

"Fair enough," Kidd drawled coolly, crossing his arms, but snickering like insane inside his head. "Open your gate."

"What? They just say that they might kill us!" Chuckie shouted, steams puffing out of his ears. "And all you went is 'fair enough'? You're horrible, Boss-man!"

"Shut up, shrimp," he shot back as the guards performed some weird hand signals to the sky.

"Stop calling me 'shrimp', you asshole!"

"Shut up, midget," the asshole said swiftly.

"Don't, Chuckie!" Camry ordered, holding his raging little brother back, who was roaring and swinging his arms and legs madly in mid-air as the man lifted him off the ground by the back of his shirt. "Can't you see that he's busying gloating about being the only 'smart one' here?" he pointed out.

Kidd openly crackled. "Damn right I am!" he crowed, laughing. "Ya heard them, 'stupid ones'? Hehe, I like these weirdos!"

This didn't go well by any of the others.

"Keep that attitude of yours up, and I don't think your room will be needing any sound-proofing, Sencho," Hiroki warned, motioning towards the masked man behind the redhead, whose laughter suddenly died.

"What is this about sound-proofing his room?" Killer growled, head lifting dangerously with suspicion.

Kidd went from normal pale to ash-pale. "N- Nothing."

"Oh, Sencho here asked me to-"

"Don't tell him that!"

"Why not?"

"I said, 'What is this about sound-proofing his room?'" the blond asked again, his voice frigid enough to freeze beer. "Kidd!"

"Our conversation was confidential, you yakuza-bastard!" the captain shrieked, red in face.

"It was?" The shipwright rubbed his chin innocently, purposely agitating him more. "You didn't say so before."

"Someday, I'm going to murder you!" Kidd bellowed, strangling the air with his hands as if said air was the other's very neck. "You just wait until that day comes, 'cause I'll- Agh!" He could no longer continue due to the hands around his own throat that were currently choking him. "You pervert!" "No, Killer, let me expla-" More choking.

"I'll look forward to it," Hiroki said dryly, watching with merriment at the first mate throttling his captain.

The brothers and Sloth all watched the little fight between the trio, not amused at the slightest.

"I don't know whom to feel sorry for in this situation- Boss getting strangled, Killer-san getting embarrassed, or Hiroki-san made to get involved," Chevy stated.

"None of them deserve any of our sympathies," Camry said coldly. "They're all idiots in their own ways."

"You're cruel, Camry-niisan," Chuckie remarked. He was ignored.

The giant gate opened.

* * *

Killer had milliseconds to see what Sparts was like before a howl of pain went off from Kidd. Instantly, he whirled back just in time for the redhead to collapse on him, clutching his skull and hissing with agony. The crew reverted, startled by the sound. Around the same moment, his blond hair started to pick up electricity, rising a bit, the crackling noise of the sparks prickling loudly in the air.

"Master Kidd?" Sloth- the only one who looked normal- asked, turning around away from the opened entrance.

"What's going on?" Chevy asked, his hair also starting to rise.

Hiroki, who looked the funniest with all his black strands sticking out in every direction, answered while trying to pat his head down, "His Devil Fruit power is reacting towards the electromagnetism from the inside. Look."

_Look,_ that was all he needed to say.

They gasped, leaned back, and shot each other looks of amazement.

The unimaginable sight that met the their eyes had them overwhelmed and speechless. Slowly, their feet began picking up, following the two guards- who were somehow undisturbed by the strange ways of the foreigners throughout this whole time- pass the gate with Killer helping a recovering Kidd in, the masked man's eyes never leaving Sparts as they arrived at an edge of a high-up cliff, looking down at the empire that was within the tall, thick, circle walls.

Monstrous bolts of electricity with no confinement whatsoever were shooting out, never pausing, from the ground beneath in all different colors, some even had changing color schemes, hoisting up giant boulders and plates of metals, which, on top of them, were what appeared to be housings, little villages, and fields of vegetation. Swirling, roller-coaster-like man-made stairs and roads interconnected every single one of those floating mini-islands with each other, hovering in mid-air like they were frozen in time, so thin and delicate-looking that one would expect them to fall from the sky any minute. Randomly on the ground, smaller bolts, nowhere near to compete or hold the same power to permanently be as their way bigger counterparts, would shoot up out of holes, sputtering sparks. The bright bolts were the only light source as far as Killer could see; the sky looked as if the dark clouds hadn't part ways for the sun since the beginning of time.

Below, the community was cut up into little grids, every building looking exactly the same as another. There were no other exits as far as he could see, only six tall towers on top of the wall, each holding two guards.

What was the most attention-catching attraction was the monumental dome that perched in the dead center of the ground, with, weirdly enough, a small size cone-shaped structure on its top. Surrounding the dome itself were numerous other smaller pyramids with triangular faces and square bases. Four humongous torches lit with bright orange flames surrounded it- he supposed that it was another light source, but so insignificant that it just couldn't compare to the bolts.

Then they saw the Roach-like flying vessels as big as small sea-going ships zooming in the air, tails of white flame shooting out of the ends, and were baffled even more.

The two guards stopped.

"I, Zizizag, will resume guarding duty," Zizizag announced, saluting to them the same ninety degrees angle salute. "Comrade Zozozuk will await with you for a lieutenant's Roach Flyer, who will inspect and guide you the rest of the way. Welcome, new delightful comrades, and good luck!"

"Oi, Kidd," Killer called as soon as he finished, shaking the captain in his arms with worries laced in his voice. "Wake up, you better be all right!"

He got a pain-filled groan in response, and wasn't sure whether to take that as a good sign or not.

"Damn it..." came the next answer from the barely conscious redhead, who was still groaning. "My head hurts like hell..." He carefully steadied himself, clutching his head and limping. "What kind of a shock was that? Where the hell are we now?"

"We're inside," his first mate answered, glancing at him with uncertainty. "Are you sure you can walk by yourself?"

"Yeah," Kidd replied as he blinked groggily, struggling to adjust himself in this new environment. "'M good-" And his eyes snapped wide open, captivated by the unusual sight. "...What is this? ...Where the hell are we!"

"This is Sparts," Hiroki answered, averting to his captain. Then, in a hesitating voice, he questioned, "Is your inner compass still functioning?"

"Fuck no! I can't tell right from left!" Kidd hissed, rubbing his temple, wobbling. "There are too many damn... I'm fucking confused here! Why does this island have so many different magnetic fields, yet my Log Pose isn't adapting to any of them?"

That send a coldness down everyone's spines, and the Kidd pirates broke away from the trance that had been placed on them, fearful expressions of all level washing over their faces.

"...What do you mean that you're not adapting?" Killer asked, confused.

"I mean what I say!"

"You said it yourself, it's a subconscious thing, isn't it? So how come you can sense that you're not adapting? And what do you mean by 'there are too many magnetic fields'?"

"I..." There was a strained look on the captain's face. "There are too many of them! And they're all hitting me at once, but my Log Pose keeps on rejecting every single one of them...They... They don't feel _real_!"

"How can a magnetic field not feel real?" Camry wondered.

"Judging by what we can perceive so far, it is most likely that the various electric currents are conflicting with his Devil Fruit power right now," Sloth said pensively. "And the true magnetic field is hidden by all the artificial ones created by the Spartians. The nature of the Log Pose is to adapt to an island with a magnetic field that is able to point to a specific other location, but these artificial fields don't point to any set places, if any place at all, thus, it's probably what Master Kidd means by them not feeling real."

"Which means that it'd take a long time to find the natural one..." Killer left the thought hanging there. "...Shit."

"...Then shouldn't we have just stayed outside where Boss wasn't disturbed?" Chuckie asked, looking past the adult at the sealed entrance. "That other guy just closed the gate, and the walls are awfully high and thick and looks really strong... And Aniki and Ren are outside on the ship..."

Another long silence as realization dawned upon them.

"Oi, you!" Kidd shouted at Zozozuk, who didn't budge an inch. "How long does it take for-"

_WHOOSH!_

The blast of hot wind cut his shout off with a deafening roar as a Roach Flyer zoomed by them, whirled twice around, went up, and gradually descended on the cliff, blowing back all the pirates who were shielding themselves. Zozozuk was the only calm one as it landed, the only thing moving being his bellowing cape.

A door slid opened, and out stepped three women and two men, all in the same fashion but carrying black tridents instead of spears. Killer didn't miss the difference in uniforms between them and the gate guard; instead of a full leather top, they wore two strips of crisscrossing leather strips with fishnet covering the horizontal of the four sides, and a crest with the letter 'E' smacked-dab in the intersect. The fact that Zozozuk's ninety degrees angle salute suddenly became an one hundred degrees one did not go amiss by him either.

_These are his superiors_.

"FORMATION!" a call rang out from inside the ship, making the pirates flinch.

The five newly arrivals stomped their left foot once, and spun, stepping into a straight line with their arms held out at an one hundred and five degrees angle. Zozozuk's had risen to one hundred and ten.

The atmosphere tensed with ambiguity. They watched as the last figure emerged out, holding a black trident with two rings of blue gems decorating the space on the long handle where the man had his hand around. The letter 'L' in the intersection of the crisscross marked him as their long-awaited lieutenant.

"Report!" he barked.

"Yes sir!" Zozozuk said, moving only his lips to speak. "Newcomers in need of guidance! Please proceed!"

The lieutenant nodded, and marched in heavy soldier steps towards the crew. "State your identities!"

Kidd, doing the duty of a proud captain, walked in front of his nakamas and looked the taller man right in the face.

"Eustass Kidd, future king of pirates," he said snobbishly, glaring at the Spartian as if he dared him to say something negative about it.

He got a nod back. "Zidd, it is."

_What?_ "Oi! I said that my name is 'Kidd'!" he shouted, but the man had already moved on.

"State your identity, foreign one!" he commanded the first mate.

"...Killer." Killer said slowly, as if he was saying something that he shouldn't.

Another nod. "Ziller it is. You, blue one!" he barked, pointing at Sloth.

And so, that was how it went for the next minute. Kidd became 'Zidd', Killer became 'Ziller', Sloth became 'Zloth', Hiroki became 'Ziroki', Camry became 'Zamry', Chevy became 'Zhevy', and Chuckie became 'Zuckie.' None of them were pleased about it.

"What the hell are you doing, changing our names, you damn bastard?" Kidd snarled. "I happen to like... Don't change my name for me! You want to d-" Killer clasped a hand over his mouth, shutting him up.

For some reason, either they had really high tolerance for insults or Kidd's complaints went over their heads, the lieutenant said nothing in regards to it, and went on with the welcome. By this point, the gate guard had disappeared back to his guarding duty, leaving the pirates in hand of this little squad.

"I am Lieutenant Zaizik of division eighteen!" he introduced himself, standing towering in front of them with his legs a foot apart and the free hand behind his back. "And these here are my ensigns and your future comrades, Zeqek!" The first female's arms dropped back down to a ninety degrees angle salute as she faced them. "Zozak!" A shorter male. "Zonca!" Another female warrior. "Zanza!" The third female. "And our Flyer's pilot, Zinc!" The last male.

There was an irregularity. "Zinc, ninety degrees when saluting a comrade of the same rank! One hundred and eighty degrees is for our leader and our leader ONLY! That is your second mistake today!"

"I apologize, sir!" The arm dropped a full quarter of a circle.

A nod, and Zaizik turned back to the stunned group.

"Wait," Chuckie asked, looking at the five, confused as shit. "...Who's who again? They all start with 'Z'!"

Without answering his question, the man continued.

"In Sparts, we are all warriors! From young age, we trained; to old age, we perish in battles! We are strong and fearless, our women and men equal in strength! But more than strength, we hold one thing to the highest value above any others." He paused, as if to fuel more drama. "And that is INTELLIGENCE! To live a fulfilling life, we must make as minimal of mistakes as possible in the name of our people, our gods, but most of all, in the name of our great and glorious leader, the Fuhrer- a man who makes NO mistakes!"

Without warning, he slammed his trident down once, the vibration shaking the ground to a point where Killer felt as if the cliff would break off. Thankfully, it didn't.

"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" he roared.

No word.

"Now, into the Roach Flyer. I will be conducting you through the daily aspects of our majestic empire, new comrades." He turned around and headed for the door of the vehicle, his squad following him.

...

"...What just happened?" Chevy asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," Kidd grunted. "What the hell did he think he was doing, changing our names!"

"'Fuhrer', what an interesting title for a leader," Hiroki murmured, smiling an eerie smile. "A person who's always right? How humanly impossible."

"This is some insane, fascistic, stratocratic theocracy-dictatorship we just entered, isn't it?" Camry said darkly.

"Yes," Killer agreed, pressing his lips together, and then added on, "Something like that."

* * *

Chuckie was jumpy.

He was right and Boss-man was wrong; he knew from the beginning that they should've followed the Eternal Pose to Arabasta and gone to a sky island instead where they could be safer and have more fun playing with angels and meeting God, but no, no one ever listens to a word he says. Beneath his jumpiness, he sulked. Sometimes, being the youngest sucked royal balls.

The ride on the Roach Flyer had been both an once-in-a-life-time experience for him as well as pure hell. He had never been so sick riding something before. By the end when they'd landed on the ground, he was ready to upchuck his half-digested breakfast and then some, his eyes swirling by the sickness of being airborne with a pilot who not only flew the vessel sideways half of the time, but nearly flipped the entire Flyer upside down trice, barely avoiding sudden shot of bolts.

Right now, Zaizuzik, or whatever his name was, and his squad of ensigns were leading them through the city, pointing out all the aspects of Sparts.

Kidd looked just as tensed as he was, probably from the massive amount of electromagnetic frequencies that emitted from just about everywhere in the place. Killer looked tensed as well, the air around the man holding just the smallest tinge of coldness, as if some dormant anger was ready to break out any moment if provoked. If Hiroki and Sloth were upset, they certainly hid it well. And as for his two brothers...

"So," Camry demanded quite rudely at one of the female warriors, who glanced back at him with that neutral stoic look that all Spartians seemed to be born with. "If a hen lays eight eggs overnight, then according to _your_ logic, one would equal nine, wouldn't it?" He sounded kind of mad.

"In that case," she replied. "Yes, that would be true, Comrade Zamry."

"Then what if that hen lays only seven eggs the next night? So by the means of the transitive property, nine would equal eight as well because nine can equal one and one can equal eight, wouldn't it?"

"Farce!" she declared, shaking her head. "Nine can never equal eight! Transitive property, what ludicrousness is that?"

"That's basic geometry! I'm trying to figure out your people here," he protested, frowning. "And I'm having trouble getting your ways of thinking!"

"Nii-san, just let it go," Chevy pleaded, sensing the annoyance emitting from the lady.

They flinched as another bolt shot up meters away abruptly, while the Spartians did not even falter.

_How can anyone live here?_ The boy thought dreadfully, fearing that he'd get electrocuted as they walked towards the dome, listening- or not- to the lieutenant speaking about the suspended road system. He wasn't sure which was more scary- the place, or the people.

The Spartians all talked in really loud voices, and always had that same blank, yet intense gaze on their face that just made him want to melt into the ground in terror. They were freakishly tall- they towered over Sloth and Camry; even the women, all three were about the same height as Zinc, or maybe his name was Zonc or Zanc, Chuckie couldn't remember. He watched, clinging onto Camry's leg as a group of kids, who appeared to be his age facially, marched by following a tall and muscular woman in two flawless, robotic lines, some of them twice his size.

"Here we are at the sacred temples! Raise!" the lieutenant commanded as they stopped in front of the circles of pyramids, raising his own arm to an one hundred and seventy degrees angle salute. "Praise the gods and goddesses! Praise the Fuhrer!"

His squad followed his suit in all seriousness and passion.

"They're lunatics," Chuckie heard Killer whispering so softly under his breath that no one should've heard him. "A whole _country_ of brainwashed lunatics." Even if they heard him, the boy doubted that they'd care for insults- they certainly didn't take Boss-man's potty mouth into consideration before.

The lieutenant-whose-name-definitely-started-with-Z-but-may-contain-two-or-three-syllables began the presentation.

"Our first temple is dedicated to the six most important gods and goddesses of Sparts," he said, turning towards the closest of the pyramids. "They define the basis of our culture's supreme intelligence-" A silent snort from the first mate. "-And are credited for our innovative advancements! Behold, first, the God of Addition! Second, his twin sister, the Goddess of Subtraction! Next, the God of Multiplication with his twin sister, the Goddess of Division! And the third set of twins, the God of Exponents, with his sister, the Goddess of Agriculture and Fertility."

"...What happened to Parenthesis?" Hiroki wondered sadly with a frown.

"They must not know about it," Chevy suggested.

"Are you kidding me?" Killer muttered, icy air coming off from him.

The gloomy-faced shipwright turned to him. "No parenthesis. It's depressing, isn't it?"

"What the hell is a parenthesis?" Kidd asked.

Moving on!

"...Goddess of Triangles with her daughters, the Lesser Goddess of Acute Triangles, the Lesser Goddess of Right Triangles, the Lesser Goddess of Obtuse Triangles, the Lesser Goddess of Isosceles Triangles, the Lesser Goddess of..."

Twenty minutes later.

"...God of Parallelograms with his sons, the Lesser God of Rhombuses, the Lesser God of Rectangles, the Lesser God of Rhomboids, and the Lesser God of Squares..."

Five minutes of explicating details past.

"...Of the Commutative property... Lesser Goddess of the Distributive Property..."

Much to Camry's agitation, the deity of the Transitive Property never showed up. Chuckie was put to sleep by this point.

"...God of Circles with his sons and daughters, the Lesser God of Circumferences, the Lesser Goddess of Diameters, her little sister- the Lesser Goddess of Radii, the Lesser God of Chords... And the child of the Lesser God of Circumferences and the Lesser Goddess of Diameters, the Great and Important God of Pi!"

"They have a god for pies?" Kidd scowled, unimpressed. "I had a blackberry pie once, it wasn't that good."

Once again, the squad guided them through pyramids after pyramids tiresomely, reciting along the ways every single one of their immortal idols- and there were a lot of them. They went from basic mathematics, to arithmetic, to algebra, to geometry, to topology, to trigonometry, to calculus, back to geometric theorems and postulates, to combinatorics, to number theory, and so on and so forth, saluting to each temple each time.

Kidd was dozing off at every stop, and Chuckie had to be carried. Everyone else of the Kidd pirate crew were bored out of their minds while the Spartians enjoyed themselves sincerely in the presences of their beloved deities, although no facial changes occurred.

Nobody knew how long had passed when the lieutenant finally led them in front of the biggest structure of them all- the massive dome that sat smack in the middle of empire with the cone sticking out on top.

"Comrades! Inside this very cone resides the greatest being to ever exist of our age! The embodiment of all human reasoning and godly intelligence, the representation of Sparts' ideal!" he cried with the uttermost passion as they stopped, saluting an one hundred and eighty degrees angle, arm sticking straight up at the dark sky. "RAISE FOR THE FUHRER! THE ONE MAN WHO'S ALWAYS RIGHT!"


	53. Of a Cipher and an Objective

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _ChibiFluffy, Kiku90, GotasDeLimon, GirlWhoLovesVampire16, GeckoMoriaShadowLord, smexyforever, Cloverskeet, awesomeness, Savage Valentine_ and _Hell Changer_ for reviewing!

To _GirlWhoLovesVampire16_: Yes, that's whom I based off this whole "Fuhrer" deal on. ;) I am aware that I'm spelling it with no diaeresis over "u." However, because a German friend of mine said that while in German the diaeresis has to be written, it should still be English-wise acceptable to write "Fuhrer" without it (although you're still right), I chose to write it so. There are also some trouble with OpenOffice where only specific fonts allow that letter and... Well, I happen to dislike those fonts because they're not comfortable to my eyes when I type. I'm sorry that I made it look weird to you, since it _is_ a word of your native language that I'm corrupting. If it makes it any better, you may treat it as an alien word, since the concept that it represents in the story isn't _too_ much like what happened in real-life. OTL

Hm, this chapter feels... I don't know... choppy and watery? I tried a lot of different ways, but it won't come out right. :\ Might be one that I have to rewrite later. For time and material's sake, it serves the purpose.

* * *

Outside of Sparts, beyond the towering black encircling wall that shunned the rest of the world off and on a ship docked by the skeleton-filled shore, a man sat on the poop deck under a bright lantern light.

There were many things running through Mustang's head at once, from serious issues and worries of what might happen to him while the crew was away, to lighthearted whines of not being able to go simply because of the assumption that just because he was crippled, he'd be safer on the ship. It hit him as somewhat degrading; he could still mobilize, still fight and still protect himself just fine. What a way to label him weaker just because of one missing arm. He huffed, dejected.

Then, there was always the concern of when were they going to come back, and if the rumors about Sparts being a land of demons plus all other horrible stories were true or not; the forest of dead woods seemed empty enough, although what dwelt beyond that wall could be a different subject altogether...

Ren stuck her head between the rails, moaning sadly. She could not see, the place smelled atrocious to her nose, and she missed her Killer-chan... Her body sunk lower in depression, gazing at where she'd last seen the blond man with longing in her eyes. "Woooo..."

"Don't fall over, Ren," Mustang scolded, looking over at her. "You're crawling back up by yourself if you do."

"Woof?"

He gave her a thumb-up, and an encouraging -coughpedocough- grin, his white pearly teeth twinkling under the yellow light. "Cheer up, you brainless animal!" Which didn't sound the least insulting in his mind. "I know that it's boring around here with just the two of us and all, but this isn't a big deal. It's not as if we'd rather be facing monsters, right? Let's make ourselves useful instead!" With spirit inspired by his own speech, the man jumped on his feet energetically and looked around. "We'll make Hiroki's job a little easier for him, since he has so much to do anyway! Oi, Ren, c'mon!"

"Woof!" the worm barked as the man ran for the orlop, slithering after him. Her speed was moments too late, as he'd already disappeared into the shipwright's workshop by the time she caught up, rummaging through the tools and supplies. Sounds of crashes and things being shattered rang along with rather painful yowls. She approached the door, wondering if it was safe to go in lest she might be bombarded herself.

"Ouch! What the hell was that- Ow! Ow! Shit, that hurt- Aaaah! My foot!" _Wham!_ "Stop! Stay in place! OW! …That bastard, what the hell does he need six hammers for? And why do they each weight a million-" He was cut off by the sound of a chainsaw engine roaring to life. "...SHIT! RUN!"

Mustang, instead of using the door, created his own grand exit by running through the wall, screaming on the top of his lungs as the jumpy machine coincidentally followed his path out. It cut apart the floorboard, drilled through the rail, and dropped into the ocean with a loud splash. The engine died, and smoke floated up.

"Thank heaven..." The man clasped his one hand over his heart as he lay flat on the deck with gratitude and relief as dramatic tears streamed down his cheeks. "I thought that I was going to die..."

A few yards away, Ren laughed at him, her tube body flopping hysterically on the ground.

"Shut up, you stupid worm! It's not that funny-"

_Ding._

"Hm?"

_Ding._

_Ding._

"...A bell?" he muttered, sitting up and turning towards the direction of the continuous dings, going over to the rail and squinted, struggling to see the possible ship that maybe approaching. A twinkling white light shone back in the distance in the mist of darkness. He squinted harder.

_White sails, the ship looks a little green, with a tint of blue, blue symbol on the sails of a seagull... Of a seagull?_ His eyes narrowed in confusion, and then shot wide open as the symbol became clearer. _A marine ship! ...What's the navy doing heading for Sparts?_

Not questioning further, he scooped Ren up from the ground much to her puzzlement, blew out the lantern light that hung above the orlop's doorway, ran to the front of the ship, extinguished the other light, and dropped low, attempting to hide himself as inconspicuously as possible, shushing the worm as the other much larger vessel-_ a warship? No, not big enough, but pretty big_ - arrived ashore less than half a mile beside the pirates' ship, and dropped anchor. The sizable silhouette of it loomed impressively.

He heard voices, fainted as they were.

"It doesn't seem like we met any trouble on the way here, Captain," a soldier reported.

"Didn't we see a light just a while ago?" the rough voice of a stereotypical marine commanding officer asked- Mustang could make out the almost invisible red end of the lit cigar in his mouth.

"There doesn't appear to be any," the inferior answered back. "It may have been a trick of the dark."

"Hmph." There was a wordless minute as a troop of men hopped down from the ship onto the bone-covered ground behind the two, the ways that they were clutching the rifles spoke of their anxiety of venturing into this place. Then... "Oi, CP 9, how long are you going to hide there?"

_CP 9?_

"Frrerrerrerre," a low, slurring laughter rang in the air as a feline-resembling man stepped on top of the bow and leaped down with all the swiftness of a cat. "Address me so casually by that title, even though I'm not yet an agent of cell nine? The name's Fero, Captain! Frrerrerrerre!"

"Modest aren't we?" the marine officer snorted.

Back on _Maria_, Mustang watched this scene unfold before his eyes, a drop of sweat rolling from the top of forehead. Him and Ren stayed still throughout the whole discussion, eavesdropping, watched in silence as the marines gathered themselves together and headed for the forest, all the way until he could no longer see them.

_Damn it... Will those guys be all right? This place is bad from the beginning and we have no clue just how long we're going to have to be here. And now the World Government? Should I look for them?_

_Even if I do go and find them, they'd only send be back_, he scowled, groom gathering a dark cloud over him. _Those jackasses._

He waited for another cautious minute before an idea came to him, blinking like a bulb overhead.

"...You think they all left?" the man finally whispered to the worm. "Oi, can you smell if anyone's still on there?"

Ren leaned out of his hold and sniffed the free air, and barked softly with uncertainty.

He looked from her to the other ship, and motioned his head to get moving.

* * *

When the Spartians hands shot up in the one hundred and eighty degrees salute, the pirates had expected just about everything but for dead bodies to sail across the sky from the high-up cliff- the one that led to the only gate that could open between the empire and the outside world- to right in front of them. All around, the various activities of the native stopped, looking up for an explanation.

"O-Oi, aren't these men...-" Camry sputtered with disbelief.

"Marines?" Killer finished.

Even Kidd looked beyond baffled. "Where the hell do they come from? There wasn't a single marine when we got here!"

"That's not all of them," Hiroki pointed up, nodding up.

One of the gate guards saluted a ninety degree approaching the edge of the cliff, a large-sized marine soldier in captain's uniform dangled at the end of his spear like some insignificant weight as he announced. The spear was impaled through center of the dead officer's chest, the blood dripping down below. It was a gruesome sight to behold, and Camry was only glad that Chuckie was asleep, feeling uneasy by how unaffected and expecting the Spartians themselves appeared.

The amount of dead ones on the ground were numerous; it wasn't a small regiment to say the least. _And mere gate guards took a whole troop on?_

"I, ZIZIZAG, FIRST AND FOREMOST APOLOGIZE TO MY COMRADES THAT I WAS NOT ABLE TO SPARE THE LIVES OF ANY OF THESE INTRUDING BARBARIANS FOR THE SACRIFICAL RITUALS IN HONOR OF OUR FUHRER'S RENEWAL, AND WISH TO BE GRANTED YOUR FORGIVENESS!" he roared.

They slammed their weapons up and down in response, presumptively forgiving him for his mistake.

"Rituals?" Kidd muttered. "Renewal?"

"SECONDLY," he continued. "THE SITUATION IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF COMRADE ZOZOZUK AND I! DO NOT BE ALARMED, COMRADES! DISPOSE THE WASTES AS BY LAW!" Then for effect, he raised the ninety degrees straight up, and they followed him in suit. "PRAISE THE FUHRER!"

He left his two-minutes spotlight.

The gate closed once again, with the dead body of the captain lay on the cliff for a Roach Flyer to fetch while two Flyers cleaned up the human pile down below. And just like that, everything resumed to the way it was, the lieutenant going back to telling them all about the Spartians' "great, glorious, and intelligent" leader.

"So the rumored attempted attacks by the World Government are true," Hiroki said, glancing at the clean-up crew, his eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't expect them to deal with it so... casually."

Killer agreed. "They treat it more like a minor, tiresome interruption than anything serious."

"That was an ineffective way to invading a place. What the hell were the marines trying to pull? They just wasted a whole bunch of soldier for nothing," Camry commented. Rethinking over this minor happening, something nagged him. "Why are they even bothering?"

"True. I'm sure that we all like to know just what's so great about here," Killer said with a sneer in his voice. "Diplomacy is obviously impossible with these people because they're utterly stupid and illogical to the bones. War is too costly, yet, rumors had it that the World Government's pretty persistence about this place according to what you've told us, Sloth."

"The bigger question is how they're capable of flight and such grandiloquent architectures when their mathematics are so obviously fragmented and backwards," Hiroki said, no longer following his own ideal of respecting a different culture. There were too many things that he disapproved. The order of operations without parenthesis? The lack of certain elementary, yet fundamental properties and theorems? A man who was always right? Impossible. _No one can be 'always right'._

The pirates were so submersed and taken by their own conversation and thoughts that they completely missed- not that they considered it of any importance- everything the lieutenant was saying.

Something about a certain bi-century empire-wide ceremony...

Something about ritual offers...

Something about mistakes and their Fuhrer...

And right after he finished, blinding neon red lights flashed and deafening sirens blared.

* * *

_WEEWOOOO! WEEWOOOO! WEEWOOOO!_

Fero, the soon-to-be CP 9 agent, dodged into a dark corner, cowering in the shadows as his bright cat-like eyes watched the Spartians running past him. Even though it would be impossible to overcome the loudness of the siren, he still suppressed a hiss as sweat dripped down the side of his head.

That ship of marines were supposed to be sacrifices for the mission, but he never expected for two mere gate guards to wipe them out so easily, barely giving him the chance to infiltrate. Secondly, the only exit out of the whole entire empire was sealed shut, and the wall look boundless, in touch with the dark sky itself. Thirdly, patrols were everywhere- on the ground, in the air in forms of some kind of bug-like flying vessels- looking for him, and it had barely been minutes since he sneaked in here. He supposed that being lithe and small in height was an advantage in this situation; it made hiding easier in that they seemed to all be looking at places were _they_ would hide instead of where someone his size would.

But it wasn't a time to count all the benefits. He couldn't believe this. How was he to carry out the order under this circumstances?

_I underestimated the final task._

At that thought. Fero allowed himself a purring growl of displeasure, furious at the possibility that he got cheated out again. After all, there was only one place left in the forbidden cell nine, and both him and his fraternal twin brother, Nero, stood on equal ground to take it, provide that one of them succeeded at one final mission. As usual, he ended up with the worse of the two deal, didn't he?

His mission on paper read simple enough: slip into Sparts, and retrieve a "blueprint" of so highly dangerous of contents that even he must not know what, only being told that if he finds it, he will know that it was the object to take- it was a mission issued by the Gorosei themselves. It was the simplicity of the description made it near impossible.

But, he reminded himself, it was in the name of justice, and he _will_ accomplish it.

_WEEWOOOO! WEEWOOOO! WEEWOOOO!_

The bright red unnerved his sensitive eyes, and the abuse on his eardrums was great. Fero shrunk further into the crack, glancing around behind him for any ways out when he saw them.

_Hm? What is this? _His eyes narrowed into slits, thinking that his eyes was deceiving him. Then, a small chuckle escaped him as their faces clicked with the identities in his mind. _Pirates..._

Yes, yes it was. That rookie- What was his name again? Eustass "Captain" Kidd? He was a hard individual to miss, especially with the nasty reputation he'd earned from annihilating the capital one of the most prominent Grand Line kingdoms. His first mate, "Massacre Man" Killer, who would've been easier to forget had it not been that epithet, and lastly, that outlandishly-dressed fellow with the lifeless eyes.

The consideration of killing them first crossed his mind along with confusion as to why they were standing out there in the open, interacting with the Spartians, but he brushed them aside after bickering with himself. For whatever reasons, they shouldn't matter as long as they didn't get in his way. From evidences, none of them harbored the level of power that could take down someone of Fero's prowess; he was a future member of the top cell of the most elite agency of the World Government who'd mastered four of the six Rokushiki techniques-

_The "Hell Breather"?_

The smug pride from before instantly drained when he spot the grotesque, former subordinate of one of the Kings. Further confusion and suspicion ruled his inside as he doubted this sight.

..._Isn't the entire crew of Marc D. Ante dead? What's he doing with that rookie? And in Sparts nonetheless! _His eyes locked dead on Sloth.

_The Hell Kaiser's crew is here? _

_Don't tell me that this is my mission!_

_This could very well be it; this empire has been a thorn in the World Government's side ever since our creation. 'The enemy of your enemy is your friend', huh? I won't be surprised if the Spartians _are _giving refuges to one of the most despicable pirates ever lived! That'll explain their traceless disappearance twenty-three years ago, but what does it have to do with any "blueprint"?_

A frustrated purr left his lips. The pirates remained still with alerted faces as the natives ran around them. Something wasn't right here; the way that they were acting didn't seem like they'd been here long at all, yet, why weren't they attacked like he was being hunted? And re-enforcing _Sloth_'s presence...

Fero's hasted mind came to the one believable conclusion; Eustass "Captain" Kidd was most likely made subordinate to Marc D. Ante, who was using Sparts as a base.

_Just like the Whitebeard "family", I see._ He sneered.

_And the blueprint?_ He mentally sketched a quick, rough outline of a plan, and readied on his feet, aiming for Sloth. _Well, I'll find out!_

* * *

"Oi," Kidd called. "Are we just going to stand here?"

By the absence of a response, the answer to his question was obvious. It irked him greatly.

"At least say something to your own captain, you bastards!" he barked. "What the fuck? I'm too dumb for you to talk to?" _Boink!_

"No one said anything in regards to your lack of brain cells," Killer said. "There _is_ nothing for us to do but to wait. The Spartians are handling it. We'll only get in the way and possibly 'make a mistake' if we do anything that they don't like."

"What?" he shouted, outraged. "Why the hell should we abide by their-"

"Look out, Boss!"

The bullet-speed being shot right past him before he could process anything. _A giant cat- no, a leopard- no, a person? _Two sharp fingers extending out at... _Sloth?_

"THERE HE IS! BARBARIAN SPOTTED!"

_Whoosh, whoosh! WHAM!_ The doctor moved too fast for Kidd, for even Fero, to perceive. A large "X" cut opened the cat-man's chest and a fist punched him in the guts, sending him flying and crashing onto the ground.

"COMRADES! SEIZE THAT BARBARIAN!"

Fero forced-recovered, kicked himself high into the air, and took a left turn, failing to notice a Roach Flyer coming at him sideways until the last moment. Quick thinking in mid-leap, he twisted and swung his leg towards it. "_Rankyaku!_" The blue air blade heavily dented the slip, the momentum not stopping there, but traveled until it hit the nearest monster electric bolt. The bolt absorbed the energy, and began crackling abnormally, the platform it hoisted wobbled in levitation and-

"GROUND THIRTY-TWO IN EMERGENCY! GROUND THIRTY-TWO TIPPING! CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE! SEND IN TWO COUSIN FLYERS! CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE!" Blue light mixed in, creating a rather brilliant shade of purple. From a distance, bumblebee-like vessels with glaring compound blue eyes and engines furiously beating paper-thin wings zoomed like lightning from opened holes in the dome.

And it occurred all too fast for Kidd to comprehend.

What he did know was that the bumblebees weren't fast enough. The bolt shot right up, striking straight into the sky with nothing preventing its path, and the "ground", as it was called, suddenly repelled away from it. He sensed the magnetic field of that bolt completely changing. Ground thirty-two was falling down straight on them, the shadow looming and growing. _Fuck!_

"Kidd! Don't just stand there! Move!" Killer shouted at him as his crew dispersed to save themselves. "OI, KIDD!"

His left hand acted on its own accord, purple electricity crackling. _What the fuck am I doing! _"_Repel!"_

For a moment, it really seemed to him that he was going to be crushed to death by the enormous piece of weight.

"KIDD, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THERE!"

Then it stopped, hovering just a hair away from his strained hand, and slowly, with his Devil Fruit power pushing and battling against gravity, the plate repelled and landed elsewhere, stirring up a dust cloud as it hit the ground. Everyone went silent; they were either staring at Kidd, or ground thirty-two. For once, the Spartians allowed identical looks of amazement on their faces.

Distance away, Fero witnessed this with an equally shocked expression. Instantly, a Spartian warrior grabbed hold of his throat before he could put his guard up again, hoisted him up into the air, and the pirates watched as the trident impaled him.

Chuckie, who had by then been woken up by all this commotion, buried his head into Camry's shoulder, didn't know what to say.

"CEASE! CEASE!"

The warrior who had impaled the prisoner froze, and ripped his spear out as another Spartian of higher command marched up to him with displeasure. Said inferior raised him arms in salute with a shameful look on the usual stoic face.

"MISTAKE!" the superior roared. Chuckie frowned, recognizing the inferior as the Flyer pilot from before, whose name may or may not be Zonc or Zunc, or maybe it was Zinc. "THIRD MISTAKE TODAY, ZINC! BARBARIANS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND! IT IS NOT LIKE LAST YEAR WHERE WE COULD DISCARD THEM SO FREELY!"

"I apologize, sir!"

The reprimanding went on as Fero trembled on the ground. Almost returning their attentions back to him, they were once again distracted when a herd of livestock emerged with the Shepperd-warrior on watch, all safe and alive, resulting in a fit of celebration involving a lot of salutes and up-and-down slamming of weaponries. Explanations later, they concluded Kidd to be a hero, and proceeded rounding up on said redhead, praising him for his right deed done. In all this mess, the prisoner, whom had earlier caused the rise of so much trouble, was conveniently forgotten by the excited Spartians.

Meanwhile, unaware to his knowledge, a certain pirate eyed him with interest.

"He is not a marine," Hiroki noted.

"Who is he?" Chuckie asked, lifting his head up more daringly, looking around for someone to fill him in, confused as hell. "Why did they stab him? What happened? I was asleep!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Fero inched away from the Spartians. In his head, Hiroki counted down the time it would take for the man to get away.

With a sudden lightning-fast leap, he escaped from sight.

In the sky, the Flyers all shifted a little, probably detecting the movement, but disregarded it due to the lack of command to attack.

It was all very strange.

"I'm going for a little walk, if I may," the shipwright said to the first mate, stepping from the crew.

Killer narrowed his eyes behind his mask. "You're not fooling anybody."

"..."

"Go ahead, but if we get involved because of your misdoings..." he left the threat hanging, disapproval laced in his voice.

"I won't," Hiroki assured.

The captain, seeing this, wasn't happy as he broke away from the surrounding crowd. "Oi! What the hell? Why are you going for a walk at a time like this? And why did you ask him for permission when I'm the captain here, you yakuza!"

Killer, for once not stopping Kidd's ranting, watched Hiroki's back as the man walked away.

More than the high chance that the black-haired man aimed to seek out that cat-man, he was disturbed by a whole another issue, an issue that should've long- _No_, he corrected. _It shouldn't be here in the first place!_

By this point, he couldn't find it any more pleasing than the redhead that he was the one that he turned to, and not Kidd, the captain. Having been in a crew for so long, doubts like this should've gone away. Certain and unique respects should have developed and positions should've been made as clear as unspoken laws. Why were they not there yet with the _second_ mate himself? It bothered him.

Had it been a mistake on his part for belittling Kidd from the beginning?

_But that's all because he wasn't ready in strength or mind. He didn't have that ability to be anyone's captain before. Now, he's changed!_

He shook his head, and told himself that nothing bad has happened thus far. There was no point in worrying.

He hoped.

* * *

Fero knew why Sparts was wanted by World Government now.

Hidden within one of the many empty pyramids, he rested against a wall, a hand on his injured chest.

Their physical strength were incredible. They were well-equipped with highly durable weapons and trained in Haki, completed with a body of such endurance that rivaled even the powers of the Rokushiki. Their technology was beyond anything he's seen in the outside world. It was crystal to him that if Dr. Vegapunk managed to grab hold of these technologies, and improve and reinvent using them, the result would work in the government's favor in such ways that evil would be minimized in the world; the so-called Flyers was a prime example. Never had he seen any country or people achieving artificial flight by scientific engineering and the building of pure machinery. There were always some sort of Devil Fruit or Mother Nature's power involved. Grant, it had rendered Moon Step, which used to be a great advantage to him in all other times, useless. He'd got no place in the air as of now. Then, of course, there was also the possibility of what he'd concluded before; involvement with one of the most dangerous criminal of all time.

That, and everything these people were contradicted the essential principle of _justice_. He couldn't back this last statement, but any empire that operated more like a colony of insects than humans was, as far as he considered, not humanity.

But as of now, he was badly wounded, and still found it difficult to accept the fact that even with his relentless since childhood, strong outside meant weak here; he was crushed by a mere soldier? Impossible!

Then again, gate guards wiped out an entire ship-worth of marines.

What was most important was the objective of his mission; find that blueprint, if he knows it when he sees it, of c-

"Hello."

Fero froze, the torn muscles in his abdomen region tensed with pain. _How...?_

"They're quite an eccentric society of people, aren't they? Killing and discarding marines with such carefreeness, then turn around to treat an intruder like that, only to turn their attention completely from you when other things things came into focus. They aren't looking for you at all now. It's bizarre, isn't it, Neko-san? We're just as bewildered as you are."

_Him? The third bounty head?_

"How did you get behind me without alerting me?" he growled, baring his tiger-worthy fangs at Hiroki.

"That's a very good question."

Agitation twitched on his face. _'Good question'? Aren't you going to answer it?_

But the pirate didn't.

"Oh yes, I believe that I've been rather impolite by speaking to you in such manner without introducing myself first," the black-haired man said and smiled at him. "My name is Shinoda Hiroki. I came here with my crew-"

"I know who you are, 'Dead Eyes,'' he said coldly.

"Do you? How delightful." He wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or not. "And whom might you be, Neko-san?"

An annoyed hiss found its way past his scowling lips. "I do not answer to sea scums. What business I have with Sparts is no one's but my own! Watch your back, I may or may not spare your crew after I find out and eliminate your captain's leader, Marc D. Ante!" That wasn't his exact mission, but planting seeds of fear couldn't harm.

The pirate's expression flickered. "...Ante? Our leader?" he muttered, the smile gone. "I don't recall having direct affiliation with someone like him."

Fero frowned. _I was wrong?_

_No, he can very well be lying. Otherwise, how else can 'Hell Breather' be in their crew?_

"However," Hiroki cut his pondering off. "What's important here isn't my affiliation, but rather yours. It's not everyday that I see a government dog not in marine uniform." His tone of voice rustled the cat-man's fur; 'dog', a degrading term as it was, was spoke in a normal tone? Was he trying to insult him? "I'm not familiar with the set up of other sub-organizations. Are you a remnant of the land polices? If my memory serves me correct, there was the existence of such a department until their duties dwindled into nothingness by that last century, and got dissolved. On the other hand, you seem too powerful for one judging by you performance back there. So, secret underground investigation team?" Getting nearer... "Hm, the Cipher Pol?"

He wasn't one yet, but even so, he sneered at the pirate, letting the other man confirm the close guess.

There was no comment until...

"What's here in Sparts?"

_Finally getting to the point, aren't we?_ "Frrerrerre! How the hell should I know?" Fero replied with haughtiness peeking in his voice, glowering at him. "Even if I do, I have no obligation to tell sea scums shit!"

"You don't know?" The other didn't look very pleased. "That's unusual. You've got no objective here?"

"That's stupid; why would I be here if I have no objective?" he scoffed with distaste. "I was sent here to retrieve a certain 'blueprint'. It's none of your business!"

The lifeless gaze challenged him. "Enlighten me."

"No."

"Is it a weapon? Is it the secret of their flight ability? ...That's the only good reason I can think of."

"Feh! I may not know, but I know the threat this place pose to the rest of your world! You heartless pirates can't possibly begin to understand what kind of danger this Hellhole is! This 'land of demons' should've _long_ been destroyed! Feel lucky that you didn't cross path with me under a normal circumstance, otherwise, I would've eliminated you and your crew in the name of justice by now!"

That didn't go well by Hiroki.

"This isn't going anywhere." A displeased look had taken over. "I merely asked a simple question, but you claim to have no further knowledge than what we already know. You're making a mockery of my time..."

"'Mockery of _your_ time'?" Veins surfaced on his forehead and neck as he glared heatedly. His fingers flexed, the tips of his claw-like nails glistened.

_This bastard pisses me off!_

Without warning, he lunged, two fingers aimed like bullets to pierce at the pirate's heart, who reacted surprisingly fast and jumped away. The attack hit him in the shoulder instead, the impact and speed just as powerful as pistols would, but not before he initiated his own counter. Fero barely felt the soft tap on his right chest.

"What-" He tried to kick back, but couldn't edge a muscle. _I can't move!_ "What did you do! Release me!"

"We're enemies by nature. If you're not of use, I see no reason why you should run on the same ground as us," the pirate reasoned, the smile creeping back as a hand placed itself by his neck. "Don't panic, it'll be painless, no different than if you'd suddenly fallen asleep."

_No! Shit! _He struggled in vain against the bind as the grip around his neck tightened. _I can't die here!_ "YOU FUCKING BAST-"

_Snap._

He fell down.

Hiroki stared at the dead body on the floor, and shook his head in disappointment. "And here I was hoping to find acceptable and rational explanations. What a let down. No parenthesis, total devotion to a dictator without questioning, and inane thinking... What's so desirable about any of that? Nothing here makes sense."

With a quiet sigh, he left Fero's corpse without a care, and emerged out from the pyramid- the one for the Twin Goddesses of Axes, he supposed. After looking around twice in hope that he didn't raise any suspicion, he fulfilled his promise by taking a five minute walk around, and headed back.


	54. The Three Generals

******Author's Note:** Thanks to_ awesomeness, Kiku90, Cloverskeet, Skadi-Glastheim,_ and_ Savage Valentine_ for reviewing!

Happy belated birthday to Skadi-san, who also drew Fero: http: / skadi-skadi-no-mi. Deviantart. Com / gallery / # / d3bmnuh You make me wish that Hiroki hadn't kill him off, but not to worry, he'll make a...uh... reappearance later on. XD

**Warning:** A lot of Capsrape... Maybe I should've warned you all earlier? -.-'

Quote (1)- Shhiii... I never thought that I'd ever credit Hitler for anything, but I guess I was wrong. The quote is just so perfect for the chapter's content that I couldn't resist. This arc is starting to creep me out. _I'm_ creeping myself out. o.O

Quote (2)- Who came up with the base of that one?

* * *

When Hiroki got back, the commotion hadn't lessened in the slightest. Rather, if anything, it was the opposite.

Fero was forgotten as soon as he'd came into scene by the Spartians, who had Kidd surrounded, reciting laws and traditions and the list of deeds that Kidd had done right with his heroic-seeming rescue back there. Their salutes, he noticed, were up to an one hundred and twenty degrees angle in contrast to the ninety degrees one before the whole incident. The shipwright calmly stepped into the circle of his onlooking crew mates and turned towards the first mate.

"You missed nothing important," Killer responded dryly, and he nodded.

In the background, the lieutenant's loud voice boomed on, "...AND BY CLAUSE EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY ONE, IN THE NAME OF OUR GREAT FUHRER, YOU SHALL BE..."

"What did you find out?" the masked man questioned. "Is that man part of the World Government?"

Hiroki nodded. "Most likely a part of the Cipher Pol. There is no other government agency that I could think of that would operate like that, and he didn't deny it when I suggested my guess. He also had a suspicion that we owe allegiance in some ways to the Hell Kaiser-" Killer's flinch didn't go amiss by him. "-which might explain why he attacked our doctor earlier. As for his purpose here in an enemy empire, from what he said, there is a valuable blueprint of some sort here; probably of high technological content of something desirable to the World Government.

"Although, interestingly enough, he did state that Sparts should've 'long been destroyed.'"

"Something the World Government would want from this place?" Behind the mask, the blond frowned. "The only thing that I see obvious is their ability of flight, but that isn't something particularly new. Flight has been achieved by other means like Devil Fruit powers, and science to some extent. These no-brainers just..." he took a moment to eye the many Roach Flyers in the sky."...have a very different idea of it. Besides that point, flight isn't an adequate battle strategy in a world where approximately ninety percent of the surface is ocean; too little landing spots and too spread out.

"What else?"

"Nothing else, that was all I managed to acquire," the shipwright answered.

A sinking feeling stirred Killer's stomach as he glanced at the other man's calm demeanor, then noticed a gush of blood dribbling down from a wound in his right arm. "...What did you do to him?"

Hiroki looked back. "His presence will only be a nuisance to us. I disposed him in concern of our best interest."

"You 'disposed him'..." Killer echoed, biting his tongue and closed his eyes in irritation, his teeth clenched. A sigh escaped his lips.

He could've gone further, but Kidd's spotlight decided to pick this moment to focus on the crew instead. The redhead glanced wearily at the regiment of warriors marching in formation towards his nakamas, but kept his mouth shut and hands by his sides with the greatest refrain.

"Stupid Ones!" the lieutenant boomed, not saluting at all while the row of ensigns behind him raised their arms to the normal ninety degrees angle.

The Kidd pirates' faces, save for the captain's, all twitched at the insulting address.

"The Honored One told us of your relations to him, and as his followers of the outside, you shall proceed to follow him! You are all hereby invited to our grand ceremony which will be held very soon! Here, Zinc, my Flyer Pilot, will be your guide throughout this momentous celebration of the Fuhrer's Renewal! Soon-to-be-Comrades, I bid you all good luck and farewell until your hopeful promotions!"

Zinc, the Flyer Pilot who had flew the Roach Flyer for them from before, stepped aside and saluted all of them at the typical ninety, and then one twenty to Kidd. "Honored Comrade Zidd, and Stupid Ones, let me lead you!"

"It's _K_idd!" He was ignored.

"What the fuck just happened?" Camry asked his captain.

"How the hell should I know? They all rounded up on me at once, I couldn't understand a fuck!" said captain snarled, pissed and puzzled. "All I did was lifted and repelled a fucking boulder, and apparently, they want to invite us to their little party."

* * *

The "party" was nowhere _near_ little, nor was it anything like anything that they had presumed beforehand.

Within the time frame of an hour, thousands of long tables and seats were propped up, using the enormous dome as the center point, and tens of thousands of Spartians emerged out at once like an internal clock had struck the exact moment in them simultaneously. The interconnecting levitated stairways and roads crawled alive with people. Armies of the warriors marched and seated themselves without the necessity of verbal orders.

Zinc led them through and guided them to a filling table, where they hesitatingly sat down, glancing with unease at each other.

"What's going on?" Chuckie muttered as bowls plopped in front of them.

"Shh," Camry hushed him as giant spoons landed into the bowl.

Another server passed by them, dumping into each bowl disturbing white goo.

The pirates each held individual looks of confusion and suppressed disgust, looking around for answers.

"What is this?" Hiroki asked, daringly picking up the oversized utensil that resembled more like a cooking ladle than something a regular human would use to dine, scooping up the liquid.

"Dinner," Zinc replied fiercely. "But you shall not touch it until proper time, or it will be counted against you as a mistake, Comrade Ziroki!"

"It looks like a mix of watery milk and finely crushed oatmeal," Camry observed, also scooping up a spoonful. A deep, concerning frown graced his face. "...Are these pieces of vitamin pills and protein supplements?"

"Looks like baby food," Chevy commented.

Chuckie made a face, sinking lower in his seat. "Looks like shit. Baby food actually taste good, you know- they're like a mix of applesauce and yogurt, and sometimes they go really well with potato chips and mayonnaise!" Everyone gave him a weird look. "This? Yuck!...At least they don't put overcooked broccoli in them."

Just then, a Spartian woman in tights passed by, her gloved hands reaching into a large pal, dumping into their bowls a fistful of overcooked broccoli, _a lot_ of banana mush, shredded wet seaweeds, carrots, and lima beans. The vegetables and banana floated on top of the milk and soaked oatmeal.

The boy turned a little green.

"They certainly take into account their daily nutrition," Hiroki said, trying to look on the bright side but failing miserably.

"Don't they have taste buds?" the cook criticized with disapproval. "This is _not_ edible."

Meanwhile, Chuckie's adventurous young mind decided to challenge the boundary. With a scoop of the slop in front of his face and his tongue extended out, he tried to gather up the courage of actually tasting it. It did look very much like baby food, which tasted pretty good if he remembered well last time... Uh, the last time he'd tasted it, he was three...

_Fine! I was eight. That was last year!_ He puffed his cheeks up with embarrassment flushed his face, even though the reminder was to himself.

His tongue touched a drop of the diluted milk and-

"MISTAKE!" Zinc howled, making him drop the spoon in surprise. "COMRADE ZUCKIE! NO ONE MAY EAT UNTIL BREAK TIME! MISTAKE, YOUR FIRST MISTAKE!"

"...U- Um... All right," he whimpered.

There was only awkward quietness after that.

_Are they _really_ oblivious to the fact that we were insulting them all this time?_ Camry thought wearily, glancing around the stone-faced Spartians, who all sat in their seats, uptight and not a sound leaving their lips, as his youngest brother trembled and shifted away from Zinc. _Or better yet... Are they even human?_

"If I may ask," Hiroki called to their guide. "Since everyone here is so quiet, is our talking not considered a mistake?"

"There is no law which stated that you may not talk during the Fuhrer's Renewal, or any time for that matter!" Zinc stated straight-forwardly. "So talking is allowed! We, however, prefer not to engage ourselves in meaningless gossips!"

"Fucking weirdos..." Kidd muttered under his breath.

"Then, did you not take into account of our captain's disrespectful and vulgar profanities?" he asked again.

"You are newcomers, and therefore, we have not yet categorized you into ranks to know of your true status! Once you are sorted into proper positions, you must treat all your Comrades and Betters with the uttermost respect and dignity! Treatments of your subordinates may be of your own accordance! But most _importantly_, you true loyalty lies with our great, magnificent, and righteous Fuhrer, because he is the one man who's always right!"

They saw Spartians around them nodding with agreement.

_...Sort us into ranks?_ Killer stilled, an obscurity weighted on his mind. Something wasn't right here.

"If I may ask one final question," Hiroki said. "Your system for 'mistakes'; what happens if you make too many?"

Unexpectedly, yet expected in a way, the reply was simple. "We kill you!"

...

"...Is that so..." Nobody knew what else to say.

Chuckie shrunk further down his seat and let out a mouse-like squeak.

"STAND!" the boom came from an aircraft above without warning, sending everyone up on their feet.

The Spartians took one step to their left, one step backward from the tables, and all turned a quarter of a circle around to face the dome.

"SALUTE THE HIGH PRIEST!"

"The High Priest?" Killer echoed as they raised an arm, not failing to notice the angle of it once again- one hundred and sixty-five degrees; it was the closest they've gotten to their vertical Fuhrer-salute other than the gods.

"The High Priest is the voice of all gods and goddesses!" their guide explained to them, staring straight ahead as an old man with long white beard wearing nothing but a speedo and a cape dropped down from a blue Flyer that resembled a fruit-fly. It was a rather awkward sight. "He is one of the four with the highest authority, right under the very Fuhrer himself! Him and our three generals are the four warriors who have committed the least number of mistakes, with our Fuhrer committing _no_ mistakes!"

Killer didn't snap back at him that they'd made the point about their leader being absolutely right, clear enough.

"I'd like to meet this person."

The masked man glanced over to Hiroki.

"'A man whose always right.'" The black-haired man met his eyes. "Don't you find this individual intriguing."

"Don't you mean impossible?" he said with a snort.

"Can you blame me for doubting?"

"There's nothing to doubt," Killer dismissed it. "A person like their Fuhrer simply cannot exist; no one can be always right. This place is nothing but a joke."

Their conversation ceased once again as the loud announcement from above blared.

"SALUTE THE GENERALS!"

Like robots, the Spartians reacted. They all turned as three more blue Flyers all landed, coincidentally enough, right at the end of the long tables where the pirates stood. The angle of the salutes did not change.

Kidd had the front row view of all of them.

The three top warriors emerged from their personal crafts almost concurrently, their presences pronouncing an immediate demand of attention. Beside him, Zinc introduced them one by one.

"To the left," the guide began. "Is General Zaik of thirty-eight years and eight hundred and seventy-two mistakes!"

Zaik, a man with brown hair and a confident chin, slammed down his silver trident once, rumbling the ground. He, too like the High Priest, wore only a black speedo and black cape.

"To the right is General Zuzuzulok of forty-five years and seven hundred and thirty-four mistakes!"

Same attire, this time with a giant unibrow. He slammed his silver trident as well.

"And in the center is General Zeva of fifty-three years and three hundred and one mistakes! She is the general who made the least amount of mistakes, and has also lived the longest, making her the top candidate to the selection of our new Fuhrer!"

For once in Sparts, Kidd was truly stunned as the female general set foot on the concrete, and too, slammed down her weapon. She didn't look remotely close to a fifty-three year old. Wearing nothing but leather bra and underwear with a black cape, Zeva would have been incredibly beautiful, with creamy skin, long white-blond hair and blue eyes, but the permanent icy glare nearly diminished the captivating beauty the rest of her face projected. Her body was of dream proportions- busty bosom, a thin, curvy waist and a well-shaped behind with long, smooth, vulpine legs.

She was also the tallest woman that Kidd had ever seen in his life. Standing at a probable fourteen feet, her imposing figure was over twice his height, dwarfing not just the pirates but everyone else around her. "...A giantess?"

"Wait," Killer cut in. "You _select_ your Fuhrer?"

Zinc never got to chance to answer his question as Zeva took a thundering step forward, signaling the beginning of her imperial march toward the dome, her cape bellowing. Even though they were the same rank, the male generals followed behind her on either sides, fully speaking their respect.

If he didn't know better, Kidd would've thought that _she_ was the Fuhrer.

He also had the notion that she was completely insane even before she arrived to the top of the dome. It wasn't a comfortable notion. Even so, he never predicted the full extent of that craziness.

Zeva slammed down her silver trident so hard on the platform that she was standing on along with the other three males, that Kidd thought it would break apart. Her piercing eyes bulged as her gaze raked her below, like a bird-of-prey over a field of mice. The colorful electric bolts in the background and around them gave the team of four a particular entrancing appearance, holding them in better light above the rest of the empire. Her white-blond hair looked as silver as her weaponry.

"COMRADES!" Her voice was as deep and imperative as her footsteps. "THE DAY... HAS COME!" She thrust her trident up and brought it down. Kidd could've swore that the ground shook.

The responding roar of the empire's was deafening.

"TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO," she delivered as they quieted down. "OUR GREAT FUHRER WAS RENEWED BY THE WILL OF OUR IMMORTAL GODS AND GODDESSES, WHO HAD SELECTIVELY CHOSEN HIM FOR HIS SUPREME INTELLIGENCE IN REPRESENTATION OF _OUR_ SUPREME INTELLIGENCE, FOR _WE_ ARE A SUPREME RACE! THE CHAMPIONS OF THE GREATS! BARBARIANS OF THE OUTSIDE WISH TO OBTAIN OUR MINDS, OUR TECHNOLOGIES, AND OUR IDEALS FOR A LONG TIME! BUT THEY WILL NEVER SUCCEED, BECAUSE THEY WILL NEVER REACH THE MAJESTY OF THE SPARTIANS!"

Once more, the deafening cheer resounded, filled with patriot pride and enthusiasm.

Killer eyed her worriedly, even slightly shaken by her speech. Certainly, her charisma was having a profound effect on her audience, all who shared the same beliefs as her. But he wasn't a Spartian, and her racist words sent a clear message to him of just what kind of a person she was.

_A top general, huh?_ Judging by the power displayed earlier by mere gate guards, He was more than reluctant to mess with the highest warrior. _We should get the hell out of here immediately._

Before he could go over the exact problems of why that might not be possible, she resumed her speech.

"OUR FUHRER WAS CHOSEN, A REASON MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE POSSESSION OF SUCH INTELLIGENCE, FOR HE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!

"EVERY TWO HUNDRED YEARS, SUCH A PERSON APPEARS AMONGST US HOLDING THAT RARE QUALITY- A PERSON WHO HAS NEVER MADE A MISTAKE BEFORE BY THE PROOF OF THE GREAT EQUATION! NOW THAT TIME HAS COME, THE AWAITED ONE MUST ASSUME THE POSITION OF OUR GREAT LEADER, AND OUR GRAND HIGH PRIEST SHALL BE THE JUDGE AND VOICE OF OUR DIETIES' HOLY WORDS!"

A concerned look fell over Hiroki's face as he processed this given information. "Every _two_ hundred years?"

"You find this strange too?" Chevy asked. "Maybe they have a longer lifespan than us, since she _did_ call themselves a different race..."

"I'd like to know what kind of a leader would give up his position so willingly," said Camry. "There is something off about this whole Fuhrer-deal."

The shipwright said nothing.

"UNDER THE PERFECT JURISDICTION OF OUR NEW FUHRER, WE SHALL CONTINUE TO LIVE AS ONE, SHINE AS ONE, THRIVE AS ONE! THAT IS WHAT MAKES OUR EMPIRE THE GREATEST OF ALL! WE ARE UNDER ONE COMMAND, ONE FAITH, ONE LOYALTY!" Her voice rang with the uttermost drama and passion as she stomped around the platform in her high heeled combat boots, her chest heaving with excited breaths and her eyes rolling over.

"ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION, ONE _LEADER_!"(1)

_BAM!_ Goes her trident. Chuckie jumped and yelped.

"ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!"

"**ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!**" the Spartians chanted and boomed back while a chorus of weapon-slams quaked the entire floor.

"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"

**"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"**

"...She crazy!" the cook muttered with disbelief. "They're all crazy!"

"I'm scared..." Chuckie sobbed, shrinking lower below the table. The rest just looked on, tensed and alerted for whatever else that might happen.

"RAISE!" Zeva roared.

At her command, two Flyers swooped down and landed on two handles on the side of the cone on top of the dome that the Kidd pirates had not noticed before, and with firm grasps by giant pincers that'd dropped down from the vessels' bottoms, they began turning the handles in sync. The cone split in half, revealing churning pulleys with ropes, lifting something up.

Even before the order for the salute came and seeing the natives all raising their arms to an one hundred and eighty degrees angle, they knew who it was.

**"ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!"**

"..." Sloth's face remained indifferent.

**"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"**

"N- No way," Chevy sputtered with awe, terrified as the object continued to rise from the center of the pyramid.

**"ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!"**

"I see," Hiroki muttered with a strained little smile, a droplet of sweat rolling down the side of his head. "A man who's 'always right', huh?"

**"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"**

"They're _insane_!" Camry exclaimed.

**"ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!"**

"What the _fuck_ is this?" Kidd growled, emphasizing on 'fuck', as if the plain old word itself wasn't enough.

**"THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"**

Killer's teeth were clenched behind his mask, his hands in fists. "This place _insults_ me!" he snarled.

**"ALL HAIL THE FUHRER!"**

"Hey... What's going on?" Chuckie whispered with fear as the object finally rose and settled, his face as pale as white sheets and his eyes larger than the oversized spoons. He was looking right at a dust-covered glass coffin, in which inside was a shriveled corpse wrapped tightly in bandages, as the Spartians erupted into a grand round of deafening cheers. "Why is their leader a mummy?"

"Of course, however you look at their thinking, one has to admit that it makes sense one way or the other. Flaws are a part of human nature," Hiroki said, shadows darkening his face. "The only kind of man that's incapable of making mistakes is a _dead_ one."

* * *

After the 'meal', as soon as the opportunity came up, the pirates scattered like rats from the ceremony and ducked into one of the pyramids, although Kidd didn't really see the need to. These weirdos wouldn't care what they were talking about, would they?

"We need to think of a plan to get ourselves out of this place and fast," Killer initiated before any of them could catch their breaths. "Nothing horrible has happened to us yet, but I'm not staying here for a moment longer than we need to. As soon as Kidd set, we're hauling our asses out and we're setting sail!"

There were two problems; Kidd hadn't set yet, and the only entrance was the one that they'd came in of, the one about a mile up from the bottom of this giant hole in the middle of earth, guarded by what-was-their-names.

"I thought- I thought that scary means slimy monsters and dead things," Chuckie said in a small voice, sniffing and huddling up to the cook. "But I never know that scary can be like this!"

"Stop crying, Shrimp!" Kidd scoffed. "How old are you? Eight?"

"Shut up! I'm nine!"

Killer's face twitched with annoyance beneath, but the masked man chose to be wise and stick to the dilemma at hand. "Hiroki," he called, causing the shipwright to lift up his head. "Did you get a good observation at how they operate their Flyers?"

"I..." He frowned. "You want us to fly over the wall?"

"What else can we do?" Camry asked. "It seems like the only option, provide that we can fly one, and you do work fast at understanding machinery."

"It's not that simple of a machine. From what I can tell, it certainly doesn't run on our typical fuel, but most likely the electric energy of this island, putting it out of the league of anything I've came across," Hiroki defended, a troubled, pensive look on his face. "Beside that, usually, I get the chance to take things apart and gain some essences of the functions. You're suggesting that I take blind stabs at what does what, which may easily put us in danger, being inside in an alien vessel that we have nearly zero comprehension of surrounded by much more knowledgeable enemies. That's stupid, reckless and suicidal."

Killer went silent.

"I don't see any other choices," he eventually said. "We need to bid our time, and see how much we can get you inside a Flyer to test things out well enough to-"

And that was all he got out before Zinc popped his large head inside and announced, "New Ones! The Fuhrer's Renewal is about to begin! You must attend immediately, then afterwards, we will perform a small welcoming ritual so that you be officially incorporated into our empire and become true Spartians! Now, come forth and follow my lead!" He saluted a ninety degrees and disappeared.

His little talk would've been something to disregard.

_Would_ have.

"...What the hell does he mean by 'incorporated into our empire" and "become true Spartians'?" Kidd snarled, wondering if his ears were deceiving him. "Oi... They can't really think..."

"We're going to _become_ part of them? When did we agree to that!" Camry shouted with shock.

"Actually..." Sloth interrupted. "We did agree to it."

"That's bullshit! They can't do that!" the captain declared, glaring at the doctor. "We never-"

"Now that I think about it," Hiroki cut in. "...We really did. Remember what those gate guards said?"

_"We, warriors of Sparts, welcome you, Comrade Zidd, to our empire in the name and intelligence of our deities and our righteous and glorious leader!"_ Kidd frowned, remembering that part, then he recalled the whole deal further.

_"You may proceed beyond our gate this moment on forth if you wish to become part of us, or you may peacefully depart!"_

_"...If you wish to become part of us..."_

"We overlooked their words," Sloth pointed out.

"No wonder they let us in and showed around around so carefreely. They never intended for any of us to leave in the first place..." Killer muttered grimly. "We should've suspected this. Shit."

"So, we should've just stayed outside all along?" Chuckie concluded. He looked around, and got nothing but uncomfortable looks from all the adult. "Boss! You suck!"

"Don't blame me when you didn't stop me!" Kidd barked back.

"So now what do we do?" Chevy asked.

"Good question," Killer said sarcastically, a dark, cold aura surrounding his person as he headed for the entrance. "When in Sparts, do as Spartians do(2)- That seems to be their policy, isn't it? Unless any of you think that we'll have a chance at winning a fight, we can only think a plan through and hope for the best in the mean time."

"Of course we can win-"

"Kidd, shut up!"

* * *

The pirates remerged with the empire, standing in their odd little group in the mass of these eccentric beings, looking a hell a lot more nervous than half an hour ago and the captain a hell a lot more pissed after being told off by his own first mate and lover. They had, not by coincidence, regrouped beside their guide, who was looking ahead attentively as the High Priest shoved his hands into a pit of fire.

Stunned faces witnessed this.

"This is the part of the ritual!" Zinc explained, somehow knowing their bewilderment without turning around. "The procedure came directly to us from our ancestors two hundred years ago, who was the last generation to perform Fuhrer's Renewal! Everything is stated very clearly! The High Priest shall bathe his palms with the hot intelligence of the deities and use those hands of godly wisdom to calculate which of the three generals shall inherit the position of Fuhrer!"

"How does he figure it out?" Hiroki asked. Killer was too enraged by the ridiculousness to care about anything at the moment.

"By putting their ages and number of mistakes into the sacred formula!" came the answer.

"...Isn't that kind of obvious though? Your female general is the oldest with the least number of mistakes if I'm correct, unless there are other variables that are being taken into consideration..."

"Farce!" Zinc snapped, denying the presented logic. "What preposterousness are you suggesting, Comrade Ziroki, and with no backing proof either? _Never_ assume, for assumptions are mistakes in themselves! Your first mistake! Terrible! Terrible!"

Hiroki decided to be wise and not argue with him.

The High Priest raised his burnt and aflamed hands in the air and waved them around, hopping on the platform, screaming on the top of his lung in pain.

"He is doing the ritual dance of gratitude!" Zinc told them. "He is being possessed and given the intelligence of the gods!"

Camry covered his face with his hands in grievance, shaking his head.

The High Priest, having rid his hands of the fire, picked up his staff and began scratching the head of it against a slowly dropping wall from above, writing out a mathematical formula; zero equaled A to the fifth power to the negative seventh power times the cosine of M plus some symbol that Hiroki had never seen before in his life and... The equation went on and on for two more lines with not a single parenthesis to keep order. The old man paused as the wall was lifted higher up, then began substituting in the numbers.

The scratchy sound of metal against stone screeched like nails on a chalkboard through all this time, sending shivers down Chevy's and Chuckie's spines, while the rest of their nakamas stood calm, though irritated as well.

Finally, the first horror was over. The High Priest slammed his staff down and shook his head.

The Spartians exchanged murmurs. The two of three generals who had waited by the religious leader's side looked at the third one- the youngest male, who stepped backwards and saluted the High Priest.

"General Zaik's answer is twenty-three over the radical of pi! He is not the destined Fuhrer!"

"...How did he get pi from this?" Killer muttered with a cold sneer. "Pi wasn't in the original equation! The only thing close that relates to circles in that entire bullshit is that cosine of M! And if you get a radical in the denominator, you should rationalize it; you can't have a radical there!"

"What pie?" Kidd asked.

A vein popped. "Don't get me started on you."

Of course, none of the Spartians took them into account. The High Priest moved on.

Zero equaled A to the fifth power to the negative seventh power...

"General Zuzuzulok's answer is... sixteen over the abosolute value of negative seven! He is not our destined Fuhrer either!"

Killer didn't comment on this one, but let his glacial rage speak for his frustration instead. Beside him, Hiroki's dead gaze, unsmiling lips and crossed arms spoke of the same feeling towards this absurdity. Once more, the named general stepped back, leaving the single female standing out, a confident gleam in her eyes, like she was sure that victory was hers. The High Priest rewrote the equation, and reworked the whole problem for the third time under the watchful eyes of his people, and others.

"What answer does he need to get for her to be chosen Fuhrer?" Sloth asked this time, the only one who looked undisturbed by this whole ordeal.

Zinc faced at him. "Both the numerator and the denominator have to be zero."

"But that's undetermined."

"Exactly! Zero, zero mistake!" the guide repeated firmly. "It has been passed down from our ancestors! That is the way of the Fuhrer's Renewal!"

Zeva's answer was radical of one over radical two point pi - "What the _hell_ is two point pi? Two point three point one four one five nine? There's no such thing!" Killer fumed in vain.

The soft murmurs started up again and escalated. No one missed the alarmed expressions on the three generals' faces, and especially their female general's sullen one. Everyone looked perturbed by the fact that none of them got the right answer. The High Priest himself was frowning as he checked his mistake-filled-by-outside-standard-but-one-hundred-percent-correct-by-Spartian-logic works trice over, and couldn't understand why it didn't follow through like their ancestors and deities had meant it to.

"What are we to do!" Zeva demanded, sounding ticked as she took a step towards the High Priest. "One of us must take the Fuhrer's place!" Her eyes flashed dangerously as she questioned in a low voice, "Is it possible that you made a mistake even with the ultimate intelligence of our gods? That is _unacceptable_!"

"Farce!" he countered back, frantically scratching a new equation against the wall using his staff. "The intelligences of our Great Ones are flawless! Like our Fuhrer, they make no mistakes! How dare you suggest something of that outrageousness, Comrade Zeva! It only means that our new leader shall not be found amongst you three, who made numerous mistakes in your lives! Our leader are the personification of perfection; he must be one that possesses no previous flaw, and shall possess none in the future! He is..."

_Scratch, scratch, scratch..._

"There!" the High Priest cried, spreading his arms apart at the revealed answer. "Zero over zero!"

"...He just bullshitted this whole thing, didn't he?" Camry drawled.

Kidd glanced around, snickering under his breath. "Oi, which sorry bastard got made Fuhrer?"

"Wait a moment... He substituted eighteen for A, and zero for M..." Killer narrowed his eyes. "It's-"

"YOU!" the call thundered out so unexpectedly that none of the pirates knew whom was being addressed at first. "YES YOU! HONORED ONE, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY OUR GREAT GODS! COMRADES, SALUTE THE NEW FUHRER!"

They all faced Kidd.

...

Blood drained from everyone's faces.

"Killer-san..." Hiroki said. "I think we have a change in plan. I would be in need of your help to pilot-"

"Shut up and let's get the hell out of here first!" the masked man snapped as he grabbed a confused and stupefied Kidd by the neck, unsheathed his katanas and ran for it.

* * *

"What the fuck is going on!" the redhead managed to shout right before Killer stuffed him into the Flyer. Around them, his crew fended off the two vessel guards as a hoard of Spartians charged closer like a stampede, roaring battle-cries. The alarms had gone off, the blinding lights flashing and blaring. "I thought you said not to fight them!"

"You moron, which fucking part don't you get?" the blond snarled as Hiroki rushed to the pilot seat, scanning everything else with uncertainty as Sloth closed the door just before the Spartians reached them. "Hurry up and get us into air!"

"I'm working on it," the shipwright responded, one hand on the small stirring wheel, searching for the right way to start the engine, trying to recall which button was used only realizing that the last Flyer they'd been on was already in motion, and therefore, he never witnessed the procedure.

"You still haven't answered me!" the captain snarled stubbornly. "What the fuck are you planning for real, Killer? So they declared me Fuhrer, so what? It doesn't matter because we're leaving anyway! Besides, I could've worked it to our advantage since they'd worship their stupid leader so much! If I tell them to do something, they won't refuse because to them, I'll always be right!"

"That's the problem! They're going to _make_ it impossible for you to make mistakes, you idiot!"

Hiroki muttered inaudible prayers, and chose the left button.

A screen blinked on.

"Password," it read.

"Damn it," he swore, ticked, trying to see about a way around the system.

"Access denied," the words flashed.

_Bam!_

Startled by the sudden noise, Hiroki stared up, and he found himself into the face of an enraged Spartian, who had crawled right in front of them outside, blocking the window, banging his spear against the glass. They had caught up.

"What's taking so long?" Camry screamed.

"Access denied."

"I don't know the password. I can't get around the security system or disable it. Plus, there's no keypad anywhere so I have no idea what to put in," the black-haired man said to him. "The Flyer won't start. We're trapped."

_Bam! Bam! Bam!_ They dropped like rocks, and scurried like ants would a dead beetle, thuds of their footsteps ringing loud and clear.

"Answer my question!" Kidd roared, pissed off.

"How can you not figure it out?" Killer roared back, losing it as well. "There's nothing great about being Fuhrer, you idiot! According to their screwed-up logic, you're not allow to make mistakes, and they're going to ensure that you never do, which means that they're going to _kill_ you-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRGH!" a cry came from the outside.

"What the fuck?"

_**BOOM!**_ A blind white streak cut right into the inside of the Flyer the same moment a large boot decimated the metal door. The force sent the pirates off their feet as the aggressive attacker pried apart and tore down the entrance with her bare hands.

"VILE FIENDS! BARBARIANS! FALSE FUHRER!" Zeva howled, towering over them with the tip of her silver trident glowing white and an army behind her. "I SHALL PUT YOU ALL TO DEATH!"


	55. Running, Fighting, and Whining

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Hell Changer, Dark Sky_ (glad you're okay! :D)_, Cloverskeet, Skadi Glastheim_ and _Kiku90_ for reviewing!

I originally wanted to post this three days earlier (yeah, not that much quicker, I know. This arc hit the slow point. Haven't you noticed that I do that every arc now? XD), but some new ideas popped up and I got delayed again. Enjoy!

EDIT: A hat off to the movie, _300_.

* * *

The pirates froze, and reacted all at once, scattering in all four directions as the monstrous giantess of a woman brought down her trident with a deep war cry. Like lightning striking the ground, the wrecked Flyer flew apart at the incredible blow, sweeping everyone around her off their feet.

Hiroki jumped away when he first caught his balance again, and escaped east, running past the Spartians on top speed away from her wrath, encountering little trouble. Few paid heed to him, although some did look as if they were hesitating, but stopping themselves because their general hadn't given an order. It was a good thing that they considered him a lesser target, he thought thankfully, getting away was easier.

Camry, with Chevy close behind him, futilely battled two warriors, but not getting anywhere despite their efforts.

Sloth headed west, snatching the youngest brother off the ground and took off without a warning to anyone. A sword out, he hacked his way through the crowd as the boy clung on to his blue dreadlocks. Then, with a turn, he took a moment to look at the shipwright's destination, and narrows his eyes with observance.

The cone on top of the dome was still opened.

Back to the disaster, Kidd barely fended off Zeva's attacks.

"You crazy bitch!" he snarled, repelling away her alloy weapon as she persistently tried to impale him over and over again with continuous bright beams. "OI! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ATTACKING ME? I'M YOUR FUHRER, AREN'T I? THAT'S A MISTAKE, YOU HEAR ME? A MISTAKE!" _Wham!_ His first mate crashed on the ground beside him, and he whirled around. "Killer!" _Shit!_

_WHAM!_

The metal plate of the Flyer's floor melted the moment her trident met with it, missing Killer, who jumped away just in time, by a hair.

"They're too strong!" the masked man exclaimed, huffing in recovery as he looked towards the army. "They're pure brute power!"

"General Zeva! Our enemies are the fleeing kidnappers and this Short One right here!" A vein popped the blond's head at the new reference, and he glared up at the speaking Spartian at full height. "Attacking the Fuhrer is a mistake! Your three hundred and second mistake-"

"SILENCE, YOU IMBECILE!" she roared, pointing the end of her weapon at the throat of the speaker, who shrank away and hunched his shoulders beneath her terrifying figure and bulging eyeballs. "I SHALL TAKE NO BARBARIAN AS MY FUHRER! THIS IS FARCE! _FARCE_, I SAY! I AM THE MAKER OF THE LEAST MISTAKES! THE TITLE OF THE LEADER RIGHTFULLY BELONGS TO _ME_! I SHALL BE THE ONE TO SUCCEED HIM! I SHALL!"

…

_That's it? That's the reason why?_ A miffed look dawned upon Kidd's face.

"Mein Fuhrer..." Killer hissed from behind him, and a hand grabbed the back of his coat collar at the same time. "Move your ass and run, you idiot!"

* * *

Hiroki and Sloth arrived by the dome at the same time, with Chuckie on the doctor's back, still clinging frightfully onto the zombie-like man's neck.

"You think that something's suspicious with it too?"

The sin glanced at the other out the corner of his eyes as Spartians surrounded them with one of the generals out front shouting orders. By then, the three pirates were right below the platform where the inauguration was held.

"Most of their religious structures are hollow inside. I am indeed curious," Sloth answered calmly. "I know the World Government. They may know about this strict stratocracy of Sparts, and may disapprove of it, but this empire has long been hidden in secret and doesn't affect the outside world at all; this place poses no political or social threat to them as far as I know. Unless there is something within here that they want in hand, they will not so insistently attempt to acquire this territory. That government dog did mention something about a blueprint, didn't he?"

"Hiroki-san," Chuckie whispered before the shipwright could respond.

The man looked at the boy. "...Yes?"

"..." Said boy's bottom lip trembled, his chin scrunched up, close to tears. "I don't want to be Fuhrer-ed!" he finally cried out.

"'Fuhrer' is a noun. Using it as a verbal adjective is incorrect," he replied rather insensitively much to Chuckie's displeasure. "And it most likely is not a synonym of 'to be killed'."

"Now, you sound just like them!"

"I do not," came the defense. "I have yet begun addressing you as 'Comrade Zuckie'."

"That's not helping!"

Hiroki sighed quietly and shook his head. A child's whine was, after all, a child's whine. Leaving the nonsensical topic there, he turned back to the obstacle in front and above them. In the air, he counted a total of eleven Flyers, and around them, a good thousand warriors standing ready, each one- as he'd witness before- possessed the strength of Killer or Kidd, which very well meant that individually, they were his match if not stronger. There was a high chance that he would not survive.

Sloth looked uncannily tranquil, which did soothe his worries somewhat.

"Are you a scientist?"

The question surprised him as the sin brought Chuckie down and stepped in front of them.

"I wouldn't define myself so generally," he said, curious as to what the other was about to do. There wasn't even a glance back as twin swords were drawn, causing Hiroki to narrow his eyes in alarm before he understood the message. ..._Is he seriously?_

No.

That was a stupid question, he told himself. It'd be highly unlikely for someone like the Hell Breather to joke around at such a critical time. _But now, it boils down to if it works._ "...How long?"

"Ten minutes."

He hesitated for a moment, still unsure.

Then nodded, and scooped the puzzled nine year old off the ground.

"We'll be back."

* * *

Chuckie was thrown over Hiroki's shoulder much to his agitation, but he shut his mouth, mainly because he was too shocked to complain about anything -that, plus he had the feeling that he'd done enough complaining to last him for some good time. The man leaped into the air with such light footsteps that he was barely touching the dome's surface as they aimed for the opened cone. The child didn't have to ask what he was doing; it was obvious.

And it was very suicidal.

_Wasn't Hiroki-san scolding Killer-san for being suicidal just a while back? I knew it! Adults are all hypocrites! Every single one of them! And now_ I'm_ going to be Fuhrer-ed because of this!_ The thought of crying came to mind, but he wisely decided that it wasn't a good option at all. A tantrum was definitely out of question by this point- he might fall off and end his young life sooner than destined.

Then he caught sight of the scenario below, and all petty anger drained away by awe.

All he _could_ do was watch Sloth fight over the course of that minute, the images imprinted into his mind.

His throat was closed, rendering him wordless.

Pale and shaken, he didn't notice anything else but the images that replayed themselves over and over again until Hiroki dropped him on cold ground, startling him from his trance. Chuckie looked up into the man's emotionless face and gulped.

"What's wrong? The run didn't take that much out of you did it?"

"I..."

"Sloth-san said that he can hold them off for approximately ten minutes. If it's nothing of importance, you can confront me later. In the mean time, I apologize for whatever it is that shocked you." With that, Hiroki averted his attention to the business at hand.

_It's just that..._ Chuckie frowned, trying to shake it off, and convince himself that it wasn't a big deal. ..._I didn't that think Sloth is this strong._

Somehow, he couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

"This..." The mutter cut him off, and his eyes followed the voice to the sight of Hiroki gazing up at the numerous ropes and pulley system, then down at the glass coffin that it had lifted.

The boy cautiously walked up beside him, also looking at the former Fuhrer's body. The bad light made it seem all too creepier.

"What do you see about it?" Hiroki asked him.

"It's a dead mummy," he responded, wondering what was not obvious about it.

"Yes," the shipwright said. "The bandages and the coffin kept it well-preserved and in very good condition. What else do you notice?"

"It's... dried up."

With a nod, Hiroki pointed to several places where the flesh wasn't covered. "This is dark red, and it's not the dark red color of blood- which should've turned brown over time when the oxygen leaves- but the color of meat that's overcooked. Also, there are several irregularities about this corpse. The right foot is a bit more flattened and weirdly-shaped than the left one. On the right hand, the fingers are all wrapped in one like a mitten, but on the left, the index finger and the thumb were wrapped separately while the other three fingers were wrapped together. It also doesn't appear to have a nose. This body seems as if it was cooked at a high temperature, deformed in the process. He or she most likely had been burned to death."

There was a long pause as the shipwright pensively scratched his chin.

"...What?" Chuckie asked.

"Unless it was a child, this Fuhrer of theirs wasn't a Spartian."

"How can you tell?"

"Easy," Hiroki answered. "This person is shorter than I."

* * *

Sloth was used to being underestimated by other people throughout his life.

He came from a nomadic tribe of Red Line near the outskirt of a kingdom called Mideve, orphaned from birth. Under the shaman of his people, he was raised and apprenticed as a healer, or what the ocean dwellers would refer to as a witch doctor. They lived simply, kept to forests and caves, traveled and followed their foods, and comprehended little of the anything else, with no written language, no advanced laws or customs.

From a young age, he could already sense differences between him and the rest of his kind.

He never understood how he knew, or why that was the case, but the evidence was clear and there. They, living in a tribe containing less than seven hundred spoken words, never understood his speech that he'd picked up from those normal humans. When he'd point out stars to his friends, or introduce to his shaman teacher a new way to use herbs, they couldn't get it. They were easily swayed by outside influences, and constantly pushed further and further back as civilizations on Red Line expanded. They never learned. Couldn't. And so, that was the view of his kind. Stupid, dimwit, sub-human. It was the impression they had of _him_ personally.

His abnormality paid off when he took the position of the tribal chief after the last had passed away from old age, and from there on, he began negotiating with the 'normal' humans. Yes, he was a leader of his people, but although there was love, pride he had none in the title, only holding on to the dream of lifting them up from ignorance, give them self-defense and self-respect, and the intelligence to one day stand up for themselves because he knew that they could not live in a changing world like theirs. The malice and greed of the world had dwindled the number of his people close to nothingness. These oppressive, aggressive nations were too powerful with more difficulties rising on the horizon. If only they could assimilate and become what was defined as superior... His spark of hope was crushed when tens of thousands of Midevian soldiers on horsebacks descended the mountains into his tribe's valley, slaughtering everyone.

Not a single soul was left alive but him, and that was only because they'd assumed him too stupid to be able to survive.

Vengeance brooded. Mideve, the kingdom which his tribe orbited for so many years, became the center of his animosity, and Ante had known that full well when they crossed path.

He could still remember the first time he'd seen the Hell Kaiser's grin.

"_Sloth, eh? Is that what you called yourself?_" Ante had said to him with mocking delight lingering in his voice as Sloth, in the King's captive, demanded his intention. "_Me? I'm going to become the King of Pirates! I'm going to rule to world!_"

Crazy talk.

_"You're quite an interesting fellow. I've never seen a thing like you in my life before._

_"How about we join forces?_" A hand was offered to him- a pale, vampiric, cold, boney hand, holding out sweet, irresistible nectar in the form of a verbal promise. _"Serve under me! When the time comes, Red Line is yours!"_

And just like that, he'd sold his freedom and soul to the Devil. The signature written in blood had long dried. Regrets came too late.

He was quiet in his former crew. Like the rest of them, he was bound to his captain, harboring hatred and a thirst for certain ones' blood. Unlike them, he wasn't mad, and he didn't crave killing. In some instances, he wasn't even assumed to be part of their crew, and it took the marines ages to identify him. Once again, he was underestimated.

"MISTAKES! MISTAKES, BARBARIAN!" the male general- the youngest of the three with the name of Zaik- raged, bringing him back to present time. "KIDNAPPING THE FUHRER, AND NOW YOU DARE TO STEP OUT THE LINE AND EXECUTE YOUR FELLOW COMRADES WITHOUT CONSENT OR AUTHORITY? MISTAKES!"

Sloth glanced down at the mass of dead corpses in front of him, and heard blood dripping down from his blades. He must admire; their bodies were much stronger than normal humans'. He had to use a lot more force to push his swords through their muscles, and it had taken him three cuts to kill one warrior, whereas he could wipe out an entire small army of ordinary soldiers with one swing. Still, they were only enraged further by the massacre, not faltered in the least.

"Master Kidd isn't your Fuhrer," he stated, looking into General Zaik's eyes. "He will become the King of Pirates."

That didn't go by well at all.

"SEIZE HIM!"

* * *

"Oi, Boss! Where the hell did Chuckie go?" Camry called to his captain as the four remainders fought back to back, the cook suddenly realizing the absence his youngest brother.

Kidd and Killer had not gotten far at all with their escape before bumping into Camry and Chevy's battle ground. Even now with the four united against the Spartians, landing a significant attack had proven to be impossible so far. They were still confined near the hijacked Flyer, blocked from going further.

None of the four managed long without injuries. Scarred and having received several hit on his abdomen and chest, crimson blood were trailing down from beneath Killer's mask, soaking his shirt. The left corner of Kidd's lips was bleeding, his body shaded with heavy bruises, all of them by the enraged female general, whom nobody dared to stop even though, technically, every time she attacked him she was committing a mistake. The good thing was that no one else dared attack him either. The bad thing was that they all aimed at his crew mates instead.

The cook had a huge gush on his forehead from a spear handle's swing hitting that spot, along with several burn marks, while Chevy's cheeks were swollen, limbs aching with bruises and minor fractured bones.

"Tch," Kidd snorted. "She just wants to be Fuhrer! That damn bitch won't get over it! It's not my fault that these idiots chose me!"

"Where the hell did Chuckie go!" Camry repeated in a more frantic tone.

"Sloth took him," Killer said.

"Then where are they now? And what about that, Hiroki!"

"That yakuza-bastard high-tailed out of here, that's what!" Kidd barked madly. "So abandoning his crew, is he? That selfish asshole!"

"They headed for the dome!" Chevy informed. "I saw a bunch of ships gathering there a moment ago. They must be fighting over there-" Something stopped him, and his eyes lit up. "Oi, there's Hiroki-san! And Chuckie's behind his back! They're heading for the opening on the top!"

The other three turned towards that direction.

"...What are they doing?" Kidd muttered as he watched the shipwright jumping down into the hole, avoiding speeding Flyers zooming his way- "_Repel!"_

Pain throbbed his skull as he used his power. Once again, the thousands of magnetic fields agitating his inner Log Pose tugged his inside, trying to 'hook' onto, as it were, the acquirer. Nearby, a streak of small bolt stemmed from a crackling large bolt, and he winced in agony at the reaction. This place was having too much of an effect on his Devil Fruit. The only advantage he had was the fact that all of the Spartians' arms were made out of metals. The major disadvantage was that if he countered them too strongly, he might attract one of these bolts and electrify them all to death.

Besides, there were too many of these roaches, and every time he tried to get them, they would just leap back up on their feet like his attacks were nothing. Of course, they never attacked him back except for Zeva. It was all very infuriating and exhausting, and could've been fun if only they weren't losing.

Killer, on the other hand, became more focused on the dome.

Judging by the amount of Spartians pouring into that area, there was still a conflict. But the shipwright was already within the structure, meaning that the only person who could be keeping up the fight would be Sloth.

_Inside the dome..._ His thought ran concurrently with the separated two as it processed.

"Kidd," he called, not paying attention as another wave of spears and tridents crashed upon them, his crewmates blocking his share. "We need to go after Hiroki."

"What?- _Repel!_ - That fucking..." _CLANK!_ "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, BITCH!" _Wham!_

"GENERAL ZEVA!"

The woman's high heels drew two lines in the stone ground as she was pushed backwards off her balance by the powerful punch. Using her silver trident to steady herself, she lifted her head, her eyes piercing right into Kidd's furious ones, the challenge on.

"Attack no more, my general!" an underling warned. "You are coming close to your four hundredth mistake today by purposely injuring the Fuhrer! Be prepared for demotion!"

"RIDICULE!" she screeched and whirled around, outraged that a lesser would dare to threaten her rank like that as the pirates seized this distraction and prepared their leaves, battling against a wave of enemies. "I AM THE RIGHTFUL-"

**_BOOM-CRAAAACK!_**

The unforeseen blast levitated just about everything within the one mile radius, sending everything in a speeding tornado in the air. The pirates were hurled away, Killer crashed against a building, denting the metallic wall, the brothers thrown near a bolt pit, the heat from it energized electricity suffocating their breathing air and knocked them out before they had the chance to recover, and Kidd, coincidentally enough, flew miles away, straight into the opened cone much to the shock of the looming Flyers that were debating amongst themselves the best way to capture the intruders inside.

But going back to the conflict at hand, General Zuzuzulok's blue Fruit Fly vessel, along with ten other Flyers, made their landings. The unibrow-possessing Spartian commander, stepping ceremoniously out, peered up to his maddened female comrade with edginess.

However, before he could even begin...

"Idiot!" Zeva spat venomously, shaking a fist at him. "I had the barbarians cornered! And you've scattered them!"

His expressionless face turned a little pink. "I came here with the intention of reinforcing your troops, Comrade Zeva! As your equal, I am not to be spoken this way!"

"Comrade Zeva, Comrade Zuzuzulok!" a new presence spoke through a microphone as a second blue Fruit Fly vessel took ground. The two general stopped, and steered their attention towards the approaching High Priest. "You will stop this bickering or it will be counted as a mistake against both of you! Zeva, due to your assaults against our Fuhrer, you are hereby demoted to the rank of-"

"FARCE!" she cried, her rage exploding. "YOU FALSE PROPHET WHO DARES TO SUGGEST A BARBARIAN TO TAKE PLACE AS OUR GREAT LEADER, DO NOT SPEAK MORE! IT IS _I_ WHO DESERVE THAT TITLE!"

"What nonsense are you spewing, Comrade?" Zuzuzulok demanded, narrowing his eyes, his brow dipping down like a parabola. "You, the maker of more than four hundred mistakes now, dare to declare yourself a candidate for Fuhrer? Why, can I not be considered a candidate in this case? I am!"

Zeva's lips pulled back, her teeth baring at him. "_I_," she declared, pronouncing the syllable loud and clear. "Shall be the heir of that title!"

And before anyone could stop them, silver tridents clashed.

* * *

_CLANK! ZZZZZZZZZZZ- BAM!_

"CLIMB! CLIMB ON!" Zaik commanded as he countered Sloth, who found himself too occupied with the new opponent to stop the hoard of Spartians running up the curved surface of the dome and pouring into the hole like ants would an anthill, determined to capture his crew mates within there. "I am impressed that a barbarian is able to fight at my level! However, your strength does not excuse your fatal mistakes! Surrender now, Blue One, and you shall have the honor of being one of Fuhrer's Renewal's sacrifices!"

"What a preposterous offer," he commented, pressing down his swords harder on the trident, pushing the other back several steps.

"I did not offer you a choice! Slaughtering so many of my comrades... It is your only fate!"

_CLAAANKK! **BAM!**_

He opened his mouth and exhaled his hell fire, showing no mercy as he determinedly and deliberately consumed the general in the flame.

Sloth expected screaming, for his victim to cry out in pain like any other times. The weak ones usually perished as soon as he unleashed his fire, the strong ones lasting out for seconds, the longest living one being less than a minute.

But Zaik didn't get burned into crisp. Not even close.

The doctor's eyes widened in alarm as the Spartian emerged from it, no injury, not a single hair harmed, and still standing fiercely like he didn't even feel that hot temperature.

_How..._

* * *

_Damn it..._ Killer could feel blood trickling down from his forehead as he sat up. His rattled body felt numb, and his steps wobbled as he attempted to walk.

"Kidd!" _Where the hell is he?_

His vision cleared little by little during the course of a minute, and he leaned against the wall to steady himself.

_WHOOSH!_

"AAAGH!" He brought his arms up to shield him face from the scorching blast of wind, coughing as the air got caught in his throat. The scent of his blood was strong inside his mask. The siren and the red lights blared, drowning out even the crackling of the gigantic electric bolts from underground.

"...What is this?"

The scene was chaotic. The natives were running in panic like it was the end of the world for them. In line and group formations, they scurried all around him, and he could perceive nothing but confusion. It wasn't until a bomb-like explosion occurred and all the Spartians were blown off their feet did he see what they were all panicking about; not far away, the two generals had already annihilated everything within their reach, engaged in their own violent combat without regards for anything else as their comrades cried and threatened in vain for them to stop. Killer stood, astounded for a minute just watching them.

Far-reaching fractures and craters created by monsters' strengths split and broke the solid ground like mini-meteorites with each hit; the air wavered and shimmered with every collision.

_They're fighting each other?_ He gaped with bewilderment. _Just what the hell is going on!_

"GENERAL ZEVA! GENERAL ZUZUZULOK! CEASE AT ONCE! YOU ARE BOTH COMMITTING GRAVE MISTAKES! _GRAVE_ MISTAKES, THE HIGH PRIEST SAYS!"

Where the hell _did_ Kidd go?

_Don't tell me that he got caught in their fight!_

* * *

"Sencho?"

"Boss-man!"

Hiroki and Chuckie called simultaneously as Eustass Kidd groaned and got up from the smashed glass coffin, perching right on top of the dead Fuhrer's body.

"Aah! That's gross! Boss, get off right now!" Chuckie wailed, eyes popping out as his captain unawarely put a hand on the bandaged head, slightly flattening the skull and creating a rather sick sound of bones cracking apart.

"My head..." Kidd growled, rubbing his temple, the broken glass crunching into further pieces as his shoes stepped on them. Shards fell from his tulip-like red hair. "Hm? Oi, what the hell are you to doing here?"

"Better yet, how did you fly so accurately into here?" Hiroki questioned without replying. "Also, please get off that body before you damage it more."

The redhead made a face when he saw what he was touching, and quickly leaped away from the coffin, dusting more shards from his hair. Up above, Flyers passed, blocking light, then revealing light, blocking, then revealing.

"What the hell are _you_ in here for, yakuza?" he shot back. "Are you _trying_ to get trapped or something? There are no other exits except for that hole up on top, and I bet those crazy bastards are hovering in the sky out there because they're waiting for us!"

Indeed, there were no other exits. If one were to think it through, the coffin wasn't buried deep into the dome. Most likely, the platform and other Flyers were on a level below, making the dome multi-floor inside, with them being on the top level.

"I'm quite aware of that," Hiroki said. "I'm merely looking for something."

"What did you find?" A snort. "There's nothing but that thing here," Kidd said, motioning to the wrecked corpse and its more-wrecked holding. "And dust. And a nasty smell." He wrinkled his nose. "What are you? Stupid?"

The black-haired man turned his back on him. "I do not wish to hear it from you."

Veins popped. "Don't turn your back on me!"

Going back to serious business, Hiroki gave a little sigh and approached the dead body, poking at the bandages with a piece of glass from the ground. True to his earlier prediction, the person was burned to death, most likely instantly at a very high temperature.

He thought about the electric bolts outside, and wondered if that was the cause. Due to the randomness of their appearances, it would make sense that a lot of people would be fried to death; but even though it seemed like the only legitimate explanation, something was still not right.

Heavy footsteps thundered above them, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oi..." Kidd muttered, looking up. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"Was that ten minutes, Chuckie-kun?" Sloth was beaten all ready? He'd lost track of time.

"...I don't know."

"THERE THEY ARE!" someone boomed. A shadowed figure pointed a finger down at them from the opening.

And before they would react, the Spartians began dropping in.

"Damn it! They-" The pirate captain didn't even bother finishing his sentence as he hurled a punch at the nearest one, not having much of an effect as it didn't even harm the target's robust build. Frustrated, he grabbed the spear instead. "_Repel!_"

_CRASH!_ The warrior flew back, the humongous body collapsing the coffin.

Hiroki's eyes flew open in as said warrior scrambled off, revealing what was underneath. "That's-"_ Wham!_ He never got the chance to finish his statement.

"Fuhrer! We have arrived to save you!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'M NOT YOUR FUHRER, YOU BASTARDS! OI, HIROKI-" His face melted into horror as he caught sight of his nakamas under the hold of two Spartians. _Shit... They got knocked out! How? That was barely one second!_ Veins lined his forehead and neck in distress and rising frenzy.

Blood was running down the nape of his shipwright's neck, giving him a good idea of how hard the hit. He couldn't see the back of Chuckie's head.

Rage flared within Kidd as he turned to the crowd of saluting sons of bitches.

_What the fuck do they think they're doing? They're _my_ crew! The only person who can push them around is _me!

But before he could express this, one of them stepped up, still saluting.

"I apologize, my Fuhrer!"

_Wham!_

* * *

Chevy woke up to noises of two men talking.

"...High Priest. Once our sacrifices are slaughtered, the renewal of our Fuhrer will proceed as planned! But first and foremost, we must calm Comrade Zeva- who is to be demoted- and Comrade Zuzuzulok and reprimand them for their unforgivable incompetence! Lastly, there is still one barbarian on the loose! I highly recommend that we capture and offer him to our righteous deities along with these! I shall personally make all efforts to hunt him down, for he shall not escape!"

The teen attempted to move his sore limbs, only to find them tied in place on an iron cross, strapped down by rusty chains. His senses snapped awake, and his head shot up in terror.

They were guarded. Six crosses on wooden blocks, counting his own, were set around one of the four great torches. It looked very much like death sentence to him.

"Nii-san!" he shouted for Camry, but didn't have to look far at all, for his older brother was right next to him.

"You awake?"

"Hey, Chevy-niisan." Depressing shadows darkened depressing expressions.

Hiroki and Sloth were behind him, their eyes hidden from view and mouths unsmiling.

"What's with the faces? What's going on?" he asked, getting a lot more worried than he already was. "How did everyone get captured? How long are we like this?" Of course, being knocked out by the heat wave, he could see how he and Camry were easily seized, but their shipwright and doctor? And there was another problem too. "Where's Boss and Killer-san?"

"'Fuhrer-sama' is over by that chair," Hiroki answered him with the tiniest hint of sarcasm in his voice; it wasn't a happy voice to hear.

He looked over, and his eyes popped out as his cheeks puffed at a fail attempt to muffle a burst of laughter.

Kidd, who sat deep in sleep on a black throne with a tiny line of drool dripping from a corner of his mouth, and disheveled hair freed from goggles, was wearing nothing but a fishnet lingerie with a piece of leather modestly covering his manhood area, and high heel boots. The quadratic formula, in all its 'x' equals negative 'b' plus or minus radical 'b' square minus four times 'a' times 'c' all divided by two 'a' glory, was scribbled neatly on his chest.

"Ahahahaha!" his youngest brother laughed along with him.

"Stop looking at him!" Camry barked at both of them. "Chuckie, turn back around! It's not funny, it's depressing! _Depressing!_"

Indeed, it was. Chevy tore his eyes away from the hysterical sight, and found himself sinking back in dread. "At least they didn't redress us," he pointed out with failed optimism.

"Of course they didn't. It's because we're going to die anyway," his older brother scoffed.

The general in charge- the one named Zaik- stepped forwards in wide strides, and slammed his silver trident down once to get their attention. "Sacrifices!" he addressed. "Your inevitable deaths have been unexpectedly delayed due to our inner inconveniences. Once our conflicts are resolves, everything shall go on as normal, and you shall meet your honorable ends for the purification of our new Fuhrer!"

"Wait a minute," the teen interrupted. "We're going to be sacrificed as offerings to our own captain?"

Zaik nodded. "To be offerings of this ceremony is the highest honor that any barbarians can have! Consider yourselves lucky!"

"But I don't want to die!" Chuckie cried. "We only made one mistake! One!"

"Three," the general correct. "One during the meal before Comrade Zeva's inauguration. One, because you were a kidnapper of the Fuhrer, and one just now from miscounting your number of mistakes!"

"So?" the child argued. "One plus one plus one, that's..." He stopped and took a moment to think, and turned to the only option he saw available. "That equals... zero! We made no mistakes! Because, you know, if one lion eats one hen, and then he falls into one river and dies as of result, that'd equal zero. "

Zaik narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think it works that way, Chuckie-kun," Hiroki said.

Sure enough, the Spartian slammed his weapon again fiercely. "Mistake! That's why we have the principles of Situational Theorem versus the Law of Counting Numbers! Mistake! Your fourth mistake!"

The child lost it. "You're so mean! Meanie! Asshole! Shitface! Just give me one chance!" he sobbed. "You suck!"

Zaik inhaled deeply. "Have it your way, Bratty One! I shall grant you and your barbarian comrades one last chance to redeem yourselves!"

The rest of pirates raised their heads up in perplexity.

"R- Really?" Chuckie asked with happiness at a chance to live.

"If you answer correctly one question!" Zaik said, nodding his head sincerely. "One question. For you, as New Ones, it shall be around the mid-level of our rating of intelligence! If you give a right answer accompanied by a proper explanation, we will consider you worthy of Spartians material and free you, although you will not get the honor of becoming a sacrifice to the Fuhrer- a very high honor in itself!"

"I don't care! I'm ready for the question!"

The general narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "Very well, Excited One, I shall ask."

"Chuckie-kun, I think you're making a big mistake," said Hiroki, who was ignored.

"What are the six trigonometric functions of a sixty degree angle? Give exact values!"

Silence.

"...What are trigonometric functions?" the youngest asked with a blank, yet fearful look on his face.

"What kind of a question is that?" Camry criticized with disbelief. "You can't seriously expect us to know something so trivial-"

"Sine of sixty equals radical three over two." Another silence. This time, all eyes went to the speaker. Hiroki, catching the general's attention, proceeded. "Cosine of sixty equals one over two. Tangent of sixty equals radical three. Cotangent of sixty equals radical three over three. Secant of sixty equals two. And Cosecant of sixty equals two times radical three all over three."

They stared at him.

"And why is that?"

"By the rules of 'Some Old Hags Can't Always Hide Their Old Age' with their reciprocals."

He was freed.

"That was easier than expected," he commented quite happily.

"...What?" the brothers gaped at the same time.

"It's a mnemonic device for Sine, Cosine and Tangent," he explained. "And since the other three are just reciprocals, I was not taught-"

"That's not the point!" the cook barked at him. "Why would you know that!"

"How can you not?" the shipwright questioned right back, caressing his sore wrists. "Everyone knows the six trigonometric functions of zero, thirty, forty-five, sixty, and ninety degree angles. It's common knowledge. I'm only relieved that it isn't one of their screwed-ups... Quite unusual, I must admit. They're backwards in that it seems like the harder the material, the more rigid the rules get, and the less 'advance' they consider it." Then he thought it over, confusing himself the more he tried to make sense of this logic. "Or maybe, their requirement for an explanation only applies to algebra and arithmetic problems and those likes, because geometric theorems and postulates rarely, if ever involve a number-"

"YOU'RE FULL OF USELESS INFORMATION!" Camry barked again.

Hiroki shrugged and sent him a small wave. His head was beginning to hurt from all that disorderly thinking anyway.

Besides, there were bigger matters unresolved.

"I will see you," he said, and began walking away.

"'I will see-' W-What? ...Oi! You're can't just leave us here!" Camry screamed furiously, and only got angrier when he provoked no response. "Come back here, you selfish bastard! I'm going to kill you if we ever get out of this! We're your crew mates, you're suppose to save us-"

"SILENCE!" Zaik thundered just before Hiroki disappeared from sight. "I have already given you a chance! Accept your fates, and prepare to die for the cause of our great Fuhrer!"

"No, no!" Chuckie pleaded. "One more chance! One more!"

"You had one chance!"

"Another one! I want another chance!"

"Chuckie, just stop it! It's useless with these people!" said his second-oldest brother, who'd reverted his attention back, shaking his chains violently, and hoping for some way to break free. Energized from the rage, his eyes bore into their captors' blank ones with new determination. "I'm going to break us free, and then kill him for leaving us like this!"

But his youngest brother was determined as well. "Just one more chance! I can prove to you that I'm a good Spartian!"

"Chuckie, give it up!" Chevy begged with worries.

Zaik gazed at the young boy. "Very well!"

_Make this an easy one! Make this easy! Make this easy! Make this easy!_ The boy prayed.

"This is not a problem in need of an explanation!" _Thank heavens..._ "Recite to me pi to its thirty-fourth digit!"

…

_Uh?_

"I told you that it's not going to work!" Camry seethed at him.

"Um..." His mind went numb as his mouth moved to give it a shot. "Three point... uh... one four one... five...nine..." Totally blankness. "...Seven?"

"Incorrect!"

"No! Wait! It's four, isn't it? I meant four!"

"It's not four either," Sloth told him calmly from his cross.

"Why aren't you helping me!"

"So," the general said, sucking in another lungful of air, leaning back. "The ceremony shall proceed."

Chuckie's lips quivered as he bawled, "This is madness!"

"No," Zaik disagreed solemnly. "This... is SPAAAARTS!"


	56. What Are In Sparts

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _Dark Sky's, nautikitti, Cloverskeet, Dfletcherboyy, ANIME1FTW_,_ Savage Valentine, Kiku90, awesomeness,_ and_ The ChibiFluffy_ for reviewing!

Well... I was super-unmotivated for the past two months for some odd reasons, and kept pulling off on this story. I'm currently trying to get on a writing rampage, so updates might still be shaky for a couple more chapters. My writing got extremely shitty and rusty on my little break, so I need to oil it up a bit. I plead your forgiveness... Anyone missed me? Yes? No? ...Anyone even reading this anymore?

To _Dark Sky's_: Firstly, yay for long reviews! :D Now, the answer to your question... It's One Piece logic, my friend, it's One Piece logic.

I didn't do it directly last chapter because I didn't want to spoil it- not like you didn't see it coming, but credit goes out to _300_ for the "This is Sparta" meme. Apology goes to the few individuals who groaned at the lame joke. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Also... **Warnings from the beginning of the arc should be taken into FULL CONSIDERATION.**

* * *

To say that Killer was distraught was an understatement.

He stood, frozen on the same spot with frenzy eyes, as the internal debate of whether or not to intervene with the fight goes on within. As far as he could see, it was safe to assume that Kidd was not present on this battleground, presumably also cast away from the blow from before. Said battleground was voided of all of Zeva and Zuzuzulok's fellow comrades, who had tried to prevent their quarrel before. The wind howled at high speed and the ground broke like continuous dropping of bombs. Killer could feel the tremendous force of their Haki like physical blows.

His grip tightened around the hilt of his half-broken katana; the other one was long destroyed. _Damn it._

Against better judgement, he attacked.

He recklessly leaped forward, racing against the wind, and with a thrust of his sword, his blade cut in between an attack, shattering, but halted the generals just as their tridents met. A great tremble rattled his entire body, and blood splattered once again on the inside of his helmet.

Zeva spare a glance at him, and with a mighty swing accompanied by her war cry, she broke the stalemate, throwing both her opponent and the third party into the air.

Killer landed on his feet, steadying himself on the unbroken sword. He didn't have the chance to catch his breath before she brought down her weapon with a heavy slam, reverting her attention back to her rival.

"That is a mistake, Comrade!" Zuzuzulok shouted. "And you dare to proclaim yourself our Fuhrer's successor? By acting so, you've only ruined what slim chance you have! You are not befitting of even a cadet with your mistakes today! Only demotion awaits you! Demotion!"

_I didn't see Kidd_, the masked man thought, paying no heed to their interactions.

Zeva looked too enraged to say anything.

Killer took a step forward, eyes frantically scanning for any signs of the redhead. Maybe Kidd also flew somewhere else. If so, where? Did he get captured? He gulped, tasting a mouthful of blood and tried to relax his nerves. More likely than not, they would not harm Kidd even if they captured him simply on the term that he got titled Fuhrer. Probably not; What_ could_ they do?

_They could kill him._ He grimaced.

"You watch, Comrade!" the female screeched. "I've worked long and hard for this day, and I shall let no barbarian take it away from me!"

"Farce!" her comrade declared. "You shall be demoted on the term of insanity!"

"In that case, you should all be demoted," the foreigner muttered under his breath.

But then, what about the rest of the crew?

As if on cue, a new set of footsteps reached his ears from behind; two familiar clicking sounds of old leather boots. He turned his head in response, and frowned in surprise.

"Hiroki?" There wasn't anyone else with him. "Where are the rest?"

"Captured."

_I knew it,_ he thought grimly.

"But alive, so not to worry yet."

"If they're dead then there's not point in worrying," Killer snapped, and motioned towards the Spartians behind them. "They're keeping themselves busy."

"No wonder they didn't execute us yet," the other commented as he saw Zeva and Zuzuzulok fighting once more . "I was wondering why they kept us alive." Then going back to business. "Anyway, I managed to convince them to release me." A bewildered 'hm?' "Long story, but... I was also able to get inside their dome before getting taken, and I think it'd be the best if you go and see what's in there too."

The first mate glanced towards the semi-spherical structure. "What did you see?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't get a good look. They knocked me out before I could," he answered. "I could've just imagined things, it was rather dark."

Killer stared at him for a second, then turned his sight back to the battling generals and clenched his jaws, decided.

"With these two fighting, no doubt that their ceremony will be delayed, unless they're completely stupid," he concluded, somehow doubting his 'unless' statement. "We should take advantage of this opportunity and-"

_Wham!_ A force impacted his mask even before he could blink, rattling his skull and sending him flying off the ground to land far elsewhere. His head throbbed in terrible agony as he hit the ground, coughing up blood and and trying to calm himself and escape before the attack could assault again.

"Well done, Comrade Ziroki!" a familiar voice boomed with praise. The masked man realized it to be of Zinc, that Flyer pilot. "You have the congratulation of the High Priest!"

"Please don't hit him anymore," the shipwright said, disregarding the pointless praise. "And I'm not your comrade, so do not salute me like that."

He was ignored.

Hiroki frowned. "They should at least sort me into a rank so I won't have to talk to brick walls all this time."

"Idiot..." Killer muttered, propping himself up weakly on his palms. "If they sort you into a rank, they'd have the right to- Aaaaah!" A sharp spear pierced through a hand and pulled out of the flesh. He snarled under his breath at the stab, and glared up at the cold-faced female cadet who'd done it. _These bastards!_

Another snatched him off the ground and held him in place before he could do anything, yanking his leftover sword from him, glanced at it suspiciously up and down before tossing it aside with the conclusion that such object posed no threat to them.

"Oi..." the first mate hissed heatedly at his inactive crew mate. "What the hell are you planning now?"

"I apologize, but since they most likely will not harm you anymore until your execution, I thought it'd be the best if at least one of us remains free," Hiroki answered as a Spartian commander shouted orders to the group of subordinates. "Please bear with it for a little longer."

"Do you have a plan in mind at least."

"Not really."

A vein popped.

Killer sighed, giving up, deciding that this really couldn't get any more fucked up.

Or so he thought.

"AAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!" _BOOM! BAAM! BAAAM!__...What the hell? __KAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

At that moment, whirl of wind, perhaps that of a hurricane, suffocated him- and just about everyone- before he could comprehend anything else. He felt the fresh wounds on his body ripping wider, the particles in the air stinging and hitting like bullets. It was surprising that none of them flew off their feet this time- although the masked man would have to thank the guards who'd held him in place for that.

"Excellent!" he heard the commander praise when the scene cleared out.

It was no longer just Zeva and Zuzuzulok. Killer stared with narrowed eyes at the unfolding scenario, puzzled and infuriated as he spot the third fighter involved, holding the two generals in a stalemate once again.

"...Isn't that Zinc?" he whispered with disbelief, recognizing the crew's guide. "Isn't he just a _cadet_?"

Hiroki related this question to the nearest Spartian, confused as well watching the struggle.

"Comrade Zinc has made well over one million mistakes in his life," came the firm answer. "We do not rank by strength, for it is only second in importance to our intelligence! Therefore, our generals- although one is soon to be demoted- are both far superior to him!"

For the millionth time, Killer couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"So _backwards_," he murmured, wanting to bash his brain in.

* * *

Born a Spartian, and like all other Spartians, he was raised on the codes of one thing and one thing only; the Fuhrer is always, always right. Granted, they only taught him that message with one "always", but Zinc had quite liked to emphasized the point by adding a second. From childhood, he had looked to see and serve the great Fuhrer, he had waited long to witness and participate in the bi-century ceremony of Fuhrer's Renewal, and had gathered immense patience for this day.

Now that this long awaited day had come, would it be a mistake for him to claim that he was rather upset to see this behavior of his superiors? How had they become his better by defiantly going against the Spartian code like this? Truly unbelievable!

Fortunately, while his mistakes numbered in many, his strength was one of the greatest of the empire. And so, with great effort, he suppressed the two warring generals as he watched the final ritual sacrifice being dragged off.

"I apologize, my generals, but you must cease this madness at once!" he cried.

Zeva growled down at him, her monstrous height even scaring him for a second as she narrowed her eyes at her defiance. "Cadet!" she snapped. "How dare you defy me!"

"_You_," Zuzuzulok reminded heatedly. "Are to be _demoted_!"

"The Gods and Goddesses are ashamed!" Zinc shouted, not wavering. "They are ashamed of this civil fight during such an crucial time!"

"DAMN THEM!" the female roared. "THEY'VE LIED! THEY'VE DECEIVED ME, WHO'VE LABORED ALL HER LIFE FOR THIS TITLE, AND INSTEAD THEY GAVE IT TO A BARBARIAN!"

"MISTAKE!" the cadet roared right back angrily, unable to accept the rubbish coming out of her mouth. He gripped his much weaker trident, and with a mighty cry, swung, sending them both backwards. "THAT HONORED ONE IS THE FUHRER, AND THE FUHRER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!

_**WHAM! WHAM!  
**_

Heels screeched painful, high-pitched screeches at the same moment that Zinc's trident snapped in half. Three pairs of tense cold eyes met as a horrific wind swept across the field, the atmosphere obscure and daunting in the silence.

Finally, the cadet threw down the broken weapon and saluted his superiors at one hundred and sixty-five degrees. A weaponless warrior can only meant an unfair duel, which, if proceeded, would severely damage the honors of all three sides. They watched him with matching stoic expressions.

"The sacrifices are ready!" he declared. "No matter what madness you insist on expelling upon the rest as this time is futile, my generals! Be prepare for consequences of your offending actions! I shall go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, trouble erupted.

Sloth was the first to yank free of his chains when Killer and Hiroki arrived. The metal broke with ease much to the shock of the Spartians, and the blue-haired man immediately moved on to freeing the rest of his crew mates as the enemy attacked.

"He's been waiting all this time?" Hiroki muttered, impressed, witnessing the happening. He should expected no less from a man who served under a King. Out the corner of his lifeless eyes, the man glanced at the two guards holding the first mate captive. Pinpointing the spot on their muscled necks, he bid and calculated the timing and distance. Chaos descended as, with a powerful blow, their doctor knocked the youngest general aside, heading for the High Priest only to be surrounded by a mass of subordinates, who were quickly but uselessly counterattacked by the two older Chuck bothers.

The guards attention dispersed, and he moved.

A certain bone in their necks made sick crunching sounds, and they both fell dead.

"Comrade Ziroki!"

_Hm?_

**_BOOM!_** The ground cracked and flew into pieces as the weight knocked him off his feet. Hiroki looked up, finding himself staring into the face of one enraged Flyer pilot, barely having milliseconds to realize what was going on when a spear from another Spartian came his way, the metal handle slamming into his back. His skeleton rattled at the impact, and blood forced itself up his throat and out his mouth.

And before the same spear could finish him off, a trident tore through the huge, muscled body, rendering his attacker in mid-move. A flash of legs in blue clothing kicked Zinc out of the way the next second. The bloody corpse collapsed when the trident withdrew roughly.

"Get up," Killer said, clutching a trident, red spots plastered all over his being from the kill. "Where's Kidd?"

The shipwright, standing on his feet once again, wordlessly pointed to the snoozing captain on the throne.

And waited.

Around them, the fight went on. Sloth seemed to have caught on a thing or two about the Spartians' fighting style, and was more effectively fending them off to get to his target, the High Priest. Behind him, the three brothers shielded his back the best they could. Nobody took notice of Killer's wrath until they felt the literal decrease in temperature of the air. Breaths were coming out in clouds, and heads turned as the masked man ran towards the redhead.

With a mighty swing of a leg, Eustass Kidd's guts recieved the kick of its existence. _BAM! _"WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU BRAINLESS IMBECILE!"

Kidd flew right out of the throne, blood spewing out of his mouth as he was shaken awake by the pain, and screamed. He flew up, and landed smack dab in the middle of Sloth's battleground, breaking up the conflict with his unannounced presence.

He groaned, crawling out of the man-made hole in agony.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR, KILLER!" he barked right back.

"You," his first mate hissed, "Are an _embarassment_!"

"What! What did I do!" he shouted, outraged at the unjust insult, seemingly unaware of his dressing fashion as he stood, quite exposed amid everything. Not far away, Chuckie snickered.

Killer was turning pink beneath his mask as he stared along with everyone else.

"And why the hell do I feel so cold?" the redhead growled, finally noticing something out of place. He stared down at himself, and- "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!"

The Spartians then deemed it a good time to interrupt.

"My Fuhrer, you must-"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH MY CLOTHES, YOU BUNCH OF BASTARDS?"

Then, not even giving them a chance to explain, he activated his power and began wrecking havoc in all his grand Fuhrer-ness.

_BOOM! BOOM! BAM! BAM! BAM! WHAAAAAAAAAM! CRRAAAAAAAAASH!_ "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGG!"

...

His crew speculated this.

...

Five minutes later, Kidd buckled up his leopard-spotted pants, threw on his coat, and with a satisfied huff, gave the groaning bodies of Spartians on the ground a deadly glare while trying hard to scrub the quadratic formula off of his chest.

"That'll teach them," he sneered, quite proud of himself of defeating the enemies that his nakamas had so much trouble with. "Oi, have you people gotten really weak or what? You can't even beat up this bunch of wimpy bastards?"

Killer watched him scratching a nipple red in the process of ridding the ink, and the masked man mentally slammed his head against an invisible wall.

"That's because they didn't even fight back at you," Chuckie pointed out.

"SHUT UP, SHRIMP!"

* * *

Pointless arguments aside, the Kidd pirates got down to business, taking advantage of the catastrophe. Killer and Hiroki got to the top of the dome first, and immediately jumped inside with the rest following close behind. It'd taken a while for the Spartian forces to reorganize under a leader, and a second or two more to realized that their Fuhrer has been 'kidnapped' once again. By then, Chevy had already scrambled into the dome as well, the opened top sealing just after he'd jumped down.

The third youngest brother quickly grabbed a hanging rope on the pulley system so he would not fall, and swung like a primate down on safe ground in the lightless room.

He squinted his eyes. It was too dark.

Sloth's mouth exhaled a breath of bright fire without warning. Quickly, Chuckie felt for a wooden piece of the broken coffin and handed it to Camry, who lit up a torch. The boy, with fingers having gotten cut by glass shards while doing so, started absentmindedly suck on the blood as the adults talked above him.

"Oi, are you sure about this?" the cook whispered- although there was no need to. "It could've just been a trick of light. They're not going to let any of us live this time if we get caught again!"

"Positive," Hiroki answered, immediately starting to head for the disturbed corpse. To do the damage further, he pushed it aside, heedlessly disregarding on the broken ground and uncovered the hidden by lifting up what was left of the coffin itself. With a heavy thud, the casket hit on top of the body. It was a piece of paper.

Everyone leaned forward. The sounds of the confused, angry Spartians were but echoes in the distance and coming closer; their time was very limited.

"What the hell is this? A drawing?" Kidd drawled and snorted. "Looks pretty useless."

"Looks like a very large egg," Chuckie commented.

The masked man narrowed his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me... This isn't... You've _got_ to be kidding me."

The captain frowned and wrinkled his forehead at this.

Meanwhile, Killer glanced at their shipwright's pensive yet troubled face, and then back to the small print beneath the egg-shaped diagram. There were no words exchanged, but the rest of the crew had sensed that something was very off by then.

"It's a reaction equation," the first mate finally said. His voice sounded weirdly cold. "Isn't it?"

Hiroki nodded and picked up the blueprint, continuing to stare at it. Kidd frowned even more. Was that fear he saw? Awe?

"What is this suppose to mean?" Killer all but demanded, the frigid aura around him sharpened and tensed. By the desperation in his voice, the captain suspected that he already knew what it meant. _What's going on? Am I missing something here?  
_

The hesitation hung like stones in the air.

"It's a reaction, you're right, there's no mistake in it for this one," Hiroki began, set down the blueprint, pointed to the letter 'U', and then took his hand back as if he felt that he shouldn't even touch it. For the first time ever, Kidd saw the smallest hint of excitement flickering in his black eyes, a surprising contrast to Killer's obvious anxiety.

"It's a field of science that has long lost everyone's interest and belief to the point where no scientist thought it to be possible," he continued. "Like anything to do with the void century, it's also a highly illegal research; anyone caught with unauthorized material concerning this field faces instant death penalty. I believe the law was enforced seven hundred years ago. The result was a genocide of scientists around the world.

"I only knew about it through my family's personal private library, thanks to my grandfather's book-collecting hobby."

Save for Killer and Sloth, they all looked back at him, disturbed by the information.

"...Well," Chevy muttered skeptically. "What is this then?"

More hesitation.

"In the simplest term," he answered, less nervous-sounding than a second ago. "It's a highly unstable isotope of Uranium going through what is termed a 'nuclear fission.'"

The brothers looked at each other, not having a clue of what he was talking about.

"And?" Killer spat through gritted teeth.

Silence.

"...The reaction is spontaneous, theorically reaching over thousands of degrees in Celsius," he went on. "...Please understand, nuclear chemistry, nuclear physics, and all but the simplest scientific studies of nuclear nature have long been outlawed and abandoned. With things like this, you can't conduct even a small experiment if you do not have legal permission from the World Government and have your laboratory under maximum security day and night, much less than produce any destructive technologies. My hypothesis can be completely false." He didn't sound reassuring as he'd hoped. "But, from what I can gather here according to what little I know, with enough of the isotope, one fission reaction can annihilate an entire island and more, with the leftover harmful radiation resulting in possible mutation of plants and animal lives alike. If anything survives the explosion, that is."

…

"Then, this things is..." Chuckie looked down at the egg-shaped diagram.

"It's a bomb!" Killer exploded, his rage hitting and stinging them like a blizzard. "It's a nuclear bomb! No wonder the World Government wants them dead! How the fuck did they come up with this shit!"

"The World Government doesn't want them dead," Kidd corrected, an ugly, dark sneer forming on his face. "Remember? They're after a blueprint; they don't care what happened to this place be they recruit Sparts or destroy it."

"A weapon like _this_ in the hands of those corrupted, sorry-ass government dogs?" Killer was beyond enraged by this point.

"Doctor Vegapunk, the World Government's lead scientist, must have been the one to initiate this mission," Sloth suggested. "This leaves us with two possibilities; one being that the World Government does not have this technology or the idea of its formation, does not know the extent of its power, and therefore wants to achieve it by stealing it from the Spartians; or two, they already have it, and fear the start of a nuclear war with these people in attempt to contain their world dominance."

For a moment, Killer couldn't decide which option was more worrisome.

Then, pushing the infuriated worries away, he jumped right to work, snatching up the plan, and was determined to shred it beyond recognition much to Hiroki's alarm.

The plan didn't rip.

It did, however, stretched, and bounced back to regular old rough paper when he'd released.

"...What the hell?" he cursed for the umpteenth time.

"Killer, calm the fuck down!" Kidd barked, not used to seeing his usually collected first mate like this, and then smirked as a great idea came to him. "It's a bomb, and you don't want either of those idiots to have it? Easy! We take it with us!"

_Bam!_ "I DON'T WANT AN IDIOT LIKE YOU TO HAVE IT EITHER!"

A vein popped. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"There are more."

The fighting couple turned their attentions back to Hiroki, who fished out blueprint after blueprint, carefully laying them down wherever he could. Killer's jaws and fists clenched at the sight.

"Looks like the first one might be the prototype. They've got several deviations using other elements too. Hydrogen-3, also known as, Tritium." The shipwright pointed out. "Here's another model of that same Uranium reaction, different procedure and structure... It's not just the bombs. There are also blueprints of their aircrafts, their architectures, their weaponry, and so on and so forth-"

"So, we know all this," Camry cut in. "The question is '_Why_ the hell do we need to know?' Are we going to do something about this? I thought we were trying to find a way out of here!"

"We're taking these all with us!" Kidd declared.

"No we're not!" Killer snapped. "We're going to make sure no one will ever get their hands on them and destroy it all right now!"

"The paper's made of some sort of elastic substance," Sloth said, picking up a sheet, feeling the texture with his hand.

"Then burn it!"

"Please don't," the shipwright pleaded quickly. "These are invaluable informa-"

_BLASSSSST!_ A ball of flame shot out of the doctor's mouth, consuming the blueprint in flame. The fire- which strangely enough, didn't affect the fire-breather himself- lit up the dim room, then slowly shrunk, and finally died, leaving not a mark on its target.

..._Even fire doesn't work on it?_

Sloth was beyond puzzled by this point. He first recalled the fight earlier with that General Zaik, who had brushed off his attack like it was nothing- no burns, no agony. And now, his power didn't even work on a simple piece of paper?

Eveyone, so absorbed in the ordeal, failed to notice Chuckie wandering off.

"My question's the same," the cook said. "What are we going to do about this?"

"Take it with us," Hiroki and Kidd replied.

"Absolutely not!" the first mate shouted.

"You suggest we just leave it to those crazy bastards?" Kidd retorted.

"I'm interested," Hiroki reasoned. "Nuclear science is a fascinating subject that's barely in its infancy. This is a grand opportunity to explore an unknown field."

"So we can what? Make these bombs ourselves-" "I will not, Killer-san. It doesn't benefit anyone for me to." "-and possibly let it slip to some even more insane bastards in the world?" Killer snapped, ignoring the shipwright. "I want this destroyed, meaning that _no_ one will have it! That's not the Spartians, us, or the World Government-" "Please keep in mind that it also might not work; it can be a fraud." "-And _you're_ not testing that theory!"

Everyone shut up.

"...Oi... Look."

The crew averted from the matter at hand to the youngest brother's voice and found the boy kneeling, fiddling with something on the ground. They exchanged glances, and Camry led them wandered closer, holding the burning wood higher up to see what the matter was.

_Click._ "Got it!" Chuckie said happily, flipping something up. "See? There's a bunch of buttons here under the floor." Indeed, there were. "I thought the floor looks a bit weird so I thought there was a trap door or something at first."

"'Buttons on the floor.' Looks convenient enough," Kidd snorted.

"Who knows, maybe it's the control pad?" the child suggested, and pressed a random button before anyone could stop him.

Fluorescent lights flickered on.

...

Camry extinguished the now useless torch as he face-palmed, muttering under his breath, "They couldn't just make a light switch on the wall or something?"

"...Shrimp, press another button."

"Don't," Killer snapped at the same time. "Do it and the next thing you know, the whole dome will self-destruct because we activated some lunatic security system."

"Well, there is a button here that says 'Self-Destruct'," Chuckie answered. "It's the big blue one. Should I press-"

"NO!" everyone screamed.

"...Okay."

There was a sudden rumble behind the walls that filled the wordless void.

"Chuckie, I said not to press anything," Killer scolded.

"But I didn't," the child answered, standing up just as there was a large cranking sound coming from beneath. The pirates flinched, eyes scanning the lit room in panic. "I just turned on the light- AAAGGGH!"

The ground abruptly _tilt._

And then floor opened beneath them.

Kidd's eyes flew wide as the solid under his shoes gave away, feeling himself slipping. He quickly grabbed hold the first person that came to mind, nearly yanking Killer's right arm out of its socket.

They all fell down. The redhead felt the bones in his body nearly breaking as they first hit rough but smooth, metallic surface, fell over the edge, and tumbled down a steep slope with the two younger brothers screaming on the top of their lungs. The crew crashed together to a stop, looking like a rather odd human bundle. Many groans of pain echoed around the large interior as each scrambled away.

The room they'd landed in was huge to say the least, but that wasn't the most attention-catching detail. What they'd saw left them gaping, aghast at the unbelievable sight.

Military weaponry- swords, tridents, spears, bows and arrows-, Roach Flyers of all different sizes and models parked neatly in slots and hovering boards, and a sea worth of eccentric ammunition and explosives surrounded them as far as their eyes could perceive.

Chuckie pointed a finger towards a suspicious stack against a section of wall.

"...Are those the bombs you were talking about?"

Silence.

"THEY ALREADY MADE THOSE?" Camry shouted, staring in shock. "...What the fuck is wrong with these people? You'd think that they're at a non-stop war or something with everything they have here!"

"The bombs don't look assembled," Hiroki told him. "There are bits and pieces scattered around that look as if they should be attached to something, and several components of the the actual structure don't match the model. See that right there? That's part of a..."

Kidd blocked out his explanation, wondering to himself why hadn't Killer said anything.

"Oi," he called for his first mate. "Should we try hijacking one of their Flyers here?"

No answer.

"Oi, Killer, what are you so- ...Killer?"

The masked man's back were turned to all of them, the front of his helmet fixed on the subject of his focus. He stared, stunned by the familiar characters, the writing, and just the mere feeling of seeing it. His fingers were trembling, his breaths shallow and short, as if he was on the brink of laughing, but couldn't bring himself to. The sight could almost be written off as a mirage had not he knew for sure that it was real and he wasn't dreaming. Still, it was actually true? Really? This so-called lie the World Government had kept trying to deny was real? He thought back on the soothsayer who'd called Kidd a devil, thought back on all the books he'd taken. Then what did that mean for him? For Kidd?

"What the hell is that?" Kidd asked, staring at it as well, confused, but still getting no response from a mesmerized Killer.

Hiroki, noticing this, averted his attention from the weapons.

He too, stood stilled, and unintentionally answered his captain for the first mate through his own question.

"What's a poneglyph doing here?"


	57. Saving the Fuhrer

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _CloverSkeet, Lunatic-With-A-Pen, ANIME1TW, Savage Valentine_ and _Raziri123_ for reviewing! Yay, people are still reading this! ^3^

Ah well... This is sort of disturbing, but after some searching, I finally found the perfect real life woman that matches how I picture Zeva in my head. Her name is Debra Lafave. It's official. I either have a thing for crazy, sick bitches, or I am one. *Is disturbed* OTL

Here's a shorter chapter than usual, simply because I want to keep updates at least slightly steady instead of having you all to wait another three or four days for me. I'm getting back on track, don't worry. :)

* * *

"What's a Poneglyph?" Kidd was ignored.

Killer's forced his tensed body to relax, allowing a chuckle as he stepped forward, shaking his head with wonderment. He lifted a hand and gingerly placed it on the cold block that was said to be the forbidden history of the Void Century, tracing the individual characters of the ancient writing with his eyes and not understanding a word of it.

"...So is this the real reason?" Hiroki asked. "Or does the World Government not know about it?" He looked at Sloth, hoping that the doctor would know the answer.

The blue-haired creature also stepped forward, and gently knocked on the Poneglyph twice as if to test the validity of its existence. There were visible lines of worries on his forehead.

"I would think not," he answered. "Ohara twenty years ago was punished a Buster Call for the possession of one. I would imagine that Sparts should receive the same, or maybe it's the fear of their nuclear weapons that kept the World Government's distance?"

The three brothers stood by, just as puzzled as their captain as their other three crew mates observed this great block of stone.

_Knock, knock, knock._

* * *

They had lost their great Fuhrer. Again.

Zinc, like all of his comrades, were devastated once more by this distressing news. How could this have happened? They had tarnished the sanctity of the Fuhrer's Renewal, dishonored their great mathematical, righteous deities! This was an embarrassment for the future generations! Their warrior children would look back at them with disapproval, with frowns and shaking heads.

He puffed up his chest with discontent as he stepped over the injured bodies of his comrades, scanning the surrounding for any signs of those traitorous kidnappers. Around him, medical units carried the wounded to caring centers, and regiments had began re-organizing themselves under appropriate leaders. Two of the three generals were still absent, generating much dissatisfaction from the crowd, but him in particular, because he was the messenger who told them that they had to be presented for the ceremony. The lack of their presences spoke the incompleteness of his given duty.

But now, they were no worries. Finding their great Fuhrer was first and mandatory.

With permission from his lieutenant, Zinc advanced ahead and sought for the dome. His training from birth as a young warrior taught him that only the most imbecilic of fighters would hide in the same place twice, yet, judging by the intelligence of the kidnappers, it was a plausible possibility.

He climbed the smooth surface of the huge dome, crawled to the hole on top and jumped down.

_Crash!_ His large body shook the ground as he landed amid the broken pieces of the coffin. The former Fuhrer was carelessly discarded. For the second time that day, he puffed up, displeased at the lack of respect shown towards their leader. Barbarians were indeed barbaric!

"MY FUHRER! I, CADET ZINC, HAVE COME TO SAVE YOU!" he roared, the slammed down his trident twice.

On the floor below him, the Kidd pirates all froze.

"LET YOURSELVES NOT BE COWARDS, AND GIVE BACK THE LEADER OF SPARTS!" he shouted once again. Still nothing answered him. Strange, could he have committed another mistake today?

His stoic face did not falter, nor did his patience. He carefully looked around once again.

And then saw the opened control pad on the floor.

And frowned deep.

Below, the pirates heard the loud thuds of his footsteps as he strolled over to the buttons, not knowing what he was doing.

"Tch, those bastards aren't giving up... Oi," Kidd whispered. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

Killer hushed him. "Get ready."

"For what?"

Up above, Zinc pressed the only white button on that whole pad- it was the same one Chuckie had pressed. Bright fluorescent lights flickered on, chasing away the dark, and the Spartian stood patiently for the ground to open beneath him.

The system rumbled, the floor tilted, and at the first crack, he leaped down.

* * *

"Get him!" Chuckie screamed.

Hiroki, the only one who stood back, decided that it was a rather comical sight. Instantly, the three Chucks charged forward crying war and began mercilessly beat upon the Spartian. Next, Sloth and Killer-san rushed to back up with more professionalism, leaving the redhead, who stood seconds behind before realizing what his crew mates were doing, and joined in.

Zinc's strength was truly remarkable in his opinion; the warrior had flunked the brothers off without efforts, knocked the first mate aside in two blows, and only to be countered by their doctor, who matched his trident with twin blades and blasted out a breath of fire.

Even the fire did not work.

"AAARRGH!" _WHAM!_

_You're kidding me!_ Hiroki thought was astonishment as Sloth was thrown back as well, the zombie-like man's heels screeching and marking the floor before he knocked into a stack of weaponry.

Then, Kidd reached the enemy, and with a swinging fist, the captain punched the unresisting cadet across the face, sending the giant man crashing against the Poneglyph.

"Oi, watch where you throw him!" Killer shouted with panic, alarmed at the thought of the stone breaking.

"Meh, it didn't break," the redhead pointed.

The pirates regrouped, all watching Zinc, who was slowly recovering from the hit, with cautious eyes.

"What the fuck, shipwreck? You didn't do anything to help!" Kidd accused his second mate, annoyed. "Why the hell did you just stand there? That wasn't a damn show!"

"I was irrelevant," Hiroki reasoned in a nonchalant manner. "My intervention wouldn't have changed a thing."

"You're a selfish bastard, that's what you are!" the captain barked, still not happy. "Next time, fight!"

"I will if it's necessary."

"That's not good enough!"

By the time their little dispute was over, Zinc had returned on his heeled feet, and with an intense gaze set on Kidd, he straightened his spine and raised his arm high in the air in the vertical salutation. "All hail the Fuhrer! I have come to save you from these vile barbarians!"

The shipwright, with an idea in mind, purposely ignored his captain and stepped in front of the group much to the redhead's agitation and empty threats of killing him once he gets the chance.

Killer frowned at the movement. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just putting something to the test here? Mind?" he asked.

The blond hesitated, but finally nodded for him to proceed.

Zinc immediately shifted his attention from Kidd to the new center of focus in the group, dropped his arm, leaned back, and waited for the man to speak.

Hiroki stared at him for a good minute, intentionally fueling the tense silence.

Then..

"The Fuhrer's always right, is he?" he questioned with a smile.

Zinc's eyes immediately grew abnormally large as he nodded furiously. "ALWAYS!" he confirmed a tad too loud. "The great Fuhrer is never wrong!"

"...Wonderful," the pirate said, turning to his captain, who stared back at him with a bewildered and distrusting face. "I think it's time that Fuhrer-sama-" "Don't call me that!" "-steps up and exercises his given authority. After all, I'm sure that none of us would like to be in this situation a minute longer. Seeing how my inferior _intelligence_ does not equate to the necessary brainpower to operate a Flyer, I shall propose to my great leader that maybe a professional pilot would be more than suited for such an assignment, be it resulting in the betrayal of the empire or not. The Fuhrer is always right, isn't he, Sencho?"

The captain's forehead wrinkled as veins popped all over in irritation. See? This was exactly why Eustass Kidd find him distasteful. Instead of just saying what he wanted in simple words, the bastard had to go out of his way to make fun of him and tell him what to do! Nobody tells him what to do!

"Kidd, just get on with it," Killer ordered ironically.

"All right, goddamn it!" he snarled, vexation hitting the peak as he grumbled with complaints under his breath. "Oi, you!" He jabbed a thumb towards the nearest aircraft he saw while glaring at Zinc, who stood straight and raised his arm again in respect. "You see that damn Flyer?"

"Yes, my Fuhrer!"

And that was how this heaven forsaken hellhole first began to end.

In a matter of minutes, the Kidd pirates boarded the bug-like ship, this time with Hiroki standing besides the pilot at full attention, observing the process of starting the engine.

Like the last time he'd seen it, the screen which read "Password" blinked on.

"What is the password? Unless it's different for each individual ships?" he asked the pilot, who merely ignored him and opened the raw, coded software, drawing a little frown from the shorter man. "...Why did you just dodge the security system?"

"Moronic barbarian!" Zinc declared. "The password is insignificant! The only way to start any Flyer is to uninstall the software!"

"...What?"

"In order to start the engine, one would have to wipe out the entire security software within five minutes of turning on the screen before the entire ship's computer auto-resets and re-installs all components," the Spartian explained as he began deleting and readjusting the codes at an insane pace. "_That_ is the most secure method."

"But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having a password in the first place?" Hiroki muttered, and was ignored once more.

Behind him, the rest of the crew seemed to be in a scramble, heated low-voice argument; at least, the captain and the first mate were. Chevy was busy rummaging through his pouch, Chuckie was holding up a pencil and a pad out to Killer, who was in conflict with a rather furious-looking Kidd and a discontented Camry. The shipwright decided to leave the piloting part to Zinc, and strolled closer to see what was it about.

"...paper and pencil, that's damn good enough!" Kidd said. "Just scribble the shit down so we can leave already!"

"Something as big as this isn't not a matter of minutes, you idiot!" Killer answered him. "If I do this manually, we could be here for days!"

"So? We can help you," the cook offered.

"If you get a single stroke wrong, it could throw off the meaning of the entire character," the masked man pointed out. "These Spartians achieved artificial flight already; they must have some sort of technology similar to photography. Just go up and ask him, Kidd. He'll listen to you."

"Like the hell am I going to just because you want to be lazy, masked freak!" the captain snapped, determined to keep as little contact with Zinc as possible. The air grew colder at the "lazy" part of the insult. "_You_ ask him!"

"Just write them down, Killer-san," Chuckie pleaded, still waving the pad and pencil around. "I wanna go back to the ship already."

"Listen to the shrimp for once!"

Deciding that he had no place in the fight, Hiroki reverted to his former spot beside the shipwright, who was standing there, doing nothing.

"It's time to take off, Zinc-san," he said to the giant man. "What are you waiting for? The engine's started, isn't it?"

"There must be an order from the Fuhrer," came the firm reply.

"..."

He gave an inaudible sigh, knowing full well by this point that Spartians wouldn't act on anything without permission from their superior. The problem here now was the competence of such superior.

_Well, this isn't going anywhere,_ he thought dryly, watching Kidd.

"If I may ask," Hiroki initiated. "Does your empire possess a device in any shape or form with similar functions to a camera... Assuming that you know what a camera is?"

He had expected a flock of questions, or neglection.

"Yes."

All the pirates stopped and stared at him.

"A scanning feature is installed within every computer in Sparts," the Spartian informed. "Along with various games including but not limited to solitaire, virtual ping pong, virtual farming, Battle DX, Battle DX II, Battle DX III, and Dance Dance Revolution. The kind of games you get depends on your rank. For example, as a cadet, I am restricted from playing solitaire and virtual ping pong."

_Uh.._. Went through everyone's mind.

"...They have a scanner." Killer must have shot Kidd a triumphant look, because the captain instantly growled.

"Then you go tell him-" Kidd began to hiss.

He was interrupted by an enormous blue Flyer that burst through the thick wall, angry lasers blazing, melting everything they beamed on. The explosives all blew up by the heat. The pirates, who had froze in shock at its arrival, all thought for a moment that the blue Flyer was about to blow them apart too.

"Get us out of here, you bastard!" Kidd shouted at Zinc, who immediately went to work.

"Scan that Poneglyph first-"

"Just fucking leave it, Killer!"

"Idiot! You don't fucking understand how important that-"

_**BOOOOOOOOM!**_ The explosion knocked everyone except Zinc off their feet.

"That thing won't worth shit if we die here!" Kidd countered after several second, trying to get up but fell again due to a second explosion. He growled with rage. "Which one of those generals' stupid ship is it! Should they even be allowed here?"

"That's General Zeva's, my Fuhrer," the pilot answered. "And she is committing treasonous mistake by entering the dome through illegal means. One must come here by the cone on top, always! She is destroying our greatest monument!"

"That crazy, oversized bitch," the pirate captain muttered. "What the hell is she doing here?"

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_! Zapped her lasers. **_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!_**

Chuckie squinted as he watched the blue Flyer's actions through a side window, trying to see through the thick black smoke. He saw giant pincers working, lifting unknown objects off the ground, retreating into the lower stomach of the vessel, then dropping down again empty handed to repeat the same procedure. The craft suspiciously remained hovering over one spot in particular the whole time.

"...She's picking up something," he answered, pressing his face against the glass, the smoke was fading away. "...She's taking... She's taking pieces of that bomb you were all talking about."

It took milliseconds to click.

"... She's _WHAT?_" Killer hissed.

"Like I said," Kidd snarled. "That bitch is crazy! Let's get the hell out of here already!"


	58. The Importance of History

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _Kiku90, Fluffy, Cloverskeet, ANIME1FTW, Savage Valentine_ and _Raziri123_ for reviewing!

Methink I am sick of molestng the caps-lock key. Thank heaven that this is the last chapter of the arc; I don't think I can take my own stupidity anymore. That's right, my own. :|

* * *

Going back half an hour in time, two larger-than-average feet trudged through a field of vegetation that was planted on top of a giant, flat rock with brindled bottom, which sat, floating peacefully on one of the monstrous lightning bolt coming out of the ground.

While the pirates held their own little fiasco within the most "sacred" of places in Sparts, in another part of the kingdom, Zeva approached her parked blue Flyer. Her blazing icy blue eyes didn't look to be blinking, staring intensely ahead of her. One seeing those eyes might thought that she was glaring at them, but in reality, she was very lost in thoughts and losing to her rage as she recalling what had happened.

Never in her fifty three years of living had she been so infuriated and degraded.

A cadet? The High Priest, whom she equaled in rank, dared to put her down so much as to send a _cadet_ after her! A snarl found itself from her lips by the mere reminder of it, and the grip around her silver trident's handle nearly dented the hard metal.

First, they welcomed a group of barbarians into the empire. True, in the past, there had been plenty of barbarians who'd tried to invade Sparts. Most were killed at the gate by the guards. Those who did made it in beyond the gates were either assimilated into the people, or killed as a result of defiance. She didn't see why they should bother. In her opinion, _all_ barbarians should be slaughtered at first sight! The fact that those bunch hadn't be killed yet, let alone the fact that one of them got made the leader of their empire, was beyond her! Never in two hundred years of history had she heard something so outrageous! That short, flower-headed foreigner- Kidd sneezed- stole her rightful title from the sole of her boots like the little roach he was!

Her boot crushed a head of broccoli.

Well, she will have the last win!

"COMRADE ZEVA!" the voice of Zuzuzulok boomed above the crackling of the bolts and across distance, and she spun around to see him standing on a nearby boulder higher up. Rage flared; he had followed her. "CEASE! CEASE YOUR MADNESS! THE CADET IS RIGHT! WHAT IS DESTINED WILL BE SO; THAT BARBARIAN IS MEANT TO BE OUR FUHRER! DO NOT DEFY THE WORDS OF THE GODS, OR YOU WILL FORCE ME TO TAKE SEVERE ACTIONS!"

Her blood boiled and anger rose high. "I WILL BE THE ONE WHO TAKE THOSE ACTIONS! FOR IF I DIE, I WILL DIE AS FUHRER! YOU WILL NOT STOP ME!"

"FARCE! IF YOU DIE, YOU WILL ONLY GO IN DISHONOR, AND BE FOREVER SHAMED AS A REBEL!"

Instantly, the tip of her trident glowed silver as energy powered up, and with a swing, she send the beam towards him and leaped into her ship, fingers furiously working the controls to start the flight. Within seconds, her vessel airborne and flew off.

Victory was hers! Ha!

She flew like the madwoman she was at the time, narrowly avoiding randoms bolts. Within a minute of her leaving ground, the small Roach Flyers of lesser warriors surrounded her. She whirled, maddened by the sight of them, and gained altitude and rose above them before zooming across the sky at a rapid speed. She took aim, and fired, blasting them out of the air one at a time, crowing with laughter. Serve them right for promoting a false leader-

**_WHAM! _** Something rammed against her ship, shaking it.

"COMRADE ZEVA, CALMLY SURRENDER YOURSELF!" the voice of the High Priest boomed from the communicator. "YOU HAVE DELAYED THE FUHRER'S RENEWAL, ATTACKED THE NEW FUHRER, AND DISTURBED ORDERS! BECAUSE OF YOUR MISTAKES TODAY, YOU WILL BE DEMOTED!"

**_BAM!_** Another great blue ship knocked her down from top, and she looked up, recognizing the personal vessel of the younger male general.

"I'VE ARRIVED WITH REINFORCEMENT, COMRADE HIGH PRIEST," Zaik voice called. "I HAVE ALSO WRITTEN A VIRUS INTO YOUR FLYER'S COMPUTER, COMRADE ZEVA; YOUR ENTIRE BATTLE SYSTEM WILL MALFUNCTION AND SHUT DOWN WITHIN THREE MINUTES! SURRENDER, OR BE DESTROYED!"

"Vile traitors!" she snarled, steam metaphorically coming out of her ears as this information processed in her enraged mind.

Her giant hands took hold of the ship's controls, and accelerated her speed. All the Flyers around her edged back in surprise to see the ship's tail centralizing so much energy. Without further warning, using an excess amount of fuel, Zeva blasted herself out of the center of the sphere they'd confined her in, knocking aside a great number of smaller Flyers. The trip was taking her straight into the lower level of the empire's one and only dome, as she had planned.

With the already somewhat unstable aim due to the virus, she melted an entrance in the dome with the laser power at the highest setting, and flew herself in.

No weapon?

Her eyes landed upon the pool of disassembled nuclear bombs. Two hundred years ago, this powerful ammunition was made forbidden during the last Fuhrer's Renewal, and everything was dismantled- two actions that she saw as perfect waste of such supreme technology. They, the Spartians, the greatest race of all human races, would have taken over the world and eliminated all those inferior barbarians had they used this!

She flew towards it, completely blinded to a much smaller Flyer that had just started its engine.

_No weapon, Comrade Zaik?_

Ha! She didn't think so!

* * *

"It's..."

Chuckie's mouth hung open. His eyes resembled saucer plates as Zeva, having gotten what she wanted, made her move again by melting open a second hole in the wall.

"It's... IT'S SHOOTING BEAMS!" Golden sparkles of admiration replaced the boy's pupils. "BEAMS! THAT'S SO FUCKING AWESOME! IT SHOOTS BEAMS!"

"That is very cool," Hiroki calmly agreed beside him, nodding his head.

"Meh, so what? I bet we can shoot beams too! And it'd be cooler!" Kidd scowled with shallow jealousy as the blue Flyer departed. "Our beams are cooler than hers!"

Him and Chuckie then proceeded to fight about which ship's beams were cooler, which got broken up by Hiroki, who informed them that all the beams were probably the same, and their Flyer perhaps just shoots smaller and less powerful beams due to its size, to which Chuckie immediately took as him being the victor, to which Kidd stubbornly denied, rebutting with the argument that their beams were still cooler just because they were theirs own beams. Thus, the fight went on.

Everyone around them sweat-dropped.

"If we're going to fly over the wall," Camry said, getting down to serious business. "Will there be other ships blocking us? I'm assuming that the Spartians are in a turmoil of their own right now- CHUCKIE, BOSS! SHUT UP AND STOP FIGHTING!"

"Zinc, please take flight," Killer commanded, giving a sigh as he watched the childishness in front of him continue.

"...Are you saying that they're better than us, you little traitor!" "Anyone's better than you, tulip-head!" "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, SHRIMP?" "TULIP-HEAD! YOU DON'T KNOW A GOOD BEAM FROM A BAD BEAM!" "I DO TOO!" "DO NOT!" "DO TOO!" "DO NOT!" _Boink!_ "Ow! YOU HIT ME AGAIN! YOU HIT A NINE YEAR OLD!" "YOU DESERVE IT!" "MEANIE!" "MIDGET!" They disappeared back in their cloud of fists, dust, and bickering.

"...Zinc," Chevy said, noticing that they hadn't moved. "Why aren't we taking off?"

"Oi!" Killer called to the pilot, irked even further. "Did you not hear me?"

The Spartian stared impassively in front of him, hearing full well. "The Fuhrer gave no order."

A vein popped on the masked man's forehead. "Why the hell are you bunch so dense!" he snapped, arms raised with fists ready to hit someone. "Get us out before that madwoman bomb this place and kill us all-"

"Killer-san!" Chevy stopped him before he did anything rash. "Please don't fight with him!"

Deciding that beating Zinc up would be irrational and useless, he averted his irritation towards Kidd instead.

"STOP FIGHTING WITH A KID, YOU FUCKING BLOCKHEAD!" he thundered, swinging his foot, sending both the captain and the mascot smashing head first into the thick metal wall. Chuckie's afro allowed him to bounce off safely, while Kidd created a rather interesting, semi-spherical dent.

With the quarreling broken, the red-haired man with matching red face sat up, pissed as Killer told him what to do, undecided of who to aim his glare at- the disrespectful midget, the masked man, or the calm caped giant who stood saluting him for no business.

"Tell him to scan the poneglyph first," came the first of a chain of commands. "Then tell him to fly us out of here, hold yourself still through the flight and-" "What the hell, that hurt-" "- stop _arguing_! Just do it! He's not going to listen to anyone else!"

Kidd decided to make his life easier.

"Just do what he says!" he shouted at Zinc with a finger pointed towards Killer. "Fucking hell, you people love to piss me off... I'm the captain, dammit!"

Ignoring his remarks, Killer went right to work. Images of the Poneglyph were captured in a matter of seconds, and before the complaining captain even registered it, the Spartian pilot had flew them out into the open, knocking everyone off balance as he sent the ship into sudden motion.

...

"They're in quite a commotion," Hiroki commented, watching the scene from a window.

Hundreds of Flyers much like theirs were cluttered into a loosely formated cluster, speeding relentlessly after a giant blue Flyer that no doubt belonged to Zeva. Further away, a second blue Flyer had just prepared itself, lifting into the sky to join the chase. The pirates listened as loudspeakers blared with the generals' voices.

"**YOU WILL NOT STOP ME! FOR I SHALL BE FUHRER!**" the female kept on screaming as she was chased near the wall. Her vessel made a surprise ninety degree turn upwards, sending many unprepared, slower Roach Flyers crashing against the seemingly indestructible wall. Now that one thought about it, many things in Sparts seemed to be indestructible. Nevertheless, their shouting match went on.

"**YOU ARE MAD! MAD! I SAY!**" Zuzuzulok screamed back at her. "**YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE ULTIMATE MISTAKE TODAY BY REVIVING A FORBIDDEN WEAPON!**"

But she was stubborn. "**I WILL NOT LET A BARBARIAN TAKE MY PLACE!**"

The barbarians watched as her madness fully unfold in the form of an assembled bomb dropping down from the belly of her ship, of which she whirled around, speeding herself straight for her fellow general's vessel.. Killer's eyes grew big, panicking when he realized what she was up to.

"She's planning to crash into him!" Camry shouted. "If they collide-" He didn't have to finish, the first mate was already on the move.

"How high can we fly?" he asked Zinc. "We need to get out of here right now!"

The Spartian warrior gave him a puzzled glance and remained strangely calm. "She is committing a crime, but no harm shall be done."

_What? _"What the fuck are you talking about? She's going to blow everyone up! You're going to let your Fuhrer die?"

Before Zinc could give an answer, Kidd jumped in. "Just fly us out of here, you bastard!"

He received a nod.

"The Fuhrer's always right," said bastard said, and began working the controls. "This ship is not made to fly to your desired altitude, so I am putting the power in overload, which will give me a burst of force to boost us beyond the empire walls."

"Good," Kidd growled. The ship started to shake uncontrollably the next moment. It wasn't until then that a very important piece of information hit the Devil Fruit user. ..._Wait, we can't leave yet, dammit!_ "OI, MY LOG POSE NEVER SET-"

"**I SHALL BE FUH-**"

They never got to hear her finish the word.

* * *

"Don't move! Who are you-"

Mustang gutted the marine with the heel of his boot as swiftly as he'd came on board, knocking the poor young man unconscious. Feeling rather sorry for the inflicted injury, the one-armed gunner muttered an apology to him and ventured further in. Ren carefully crawled behind him, curiously glancing this way and that while sniffing the air. It smelled of gunpowder, sweat, and bitter ginger and cinnamon- the taste of old apartment complexes.

"Hellooooo...Anyone hoooome...?" the human called in a low voice down a long hallway. It seemed like that marine guard was the only one left on the ship. Confirming that nobody else was on board, he straightened his back with confidence and opened the first door on his right, grinning.

"Woof?"

"This is awesome, I've always wanted to be on a marine ship!" he said happily, barging in without consideration. "I wonder if any one's going to come back." He picked up a rifle that had been left on the floor as the Giant Man-Eating Worm slithered over towards a miniature model of a log cabin that perched on top of a desk, peering at it. "Maybe not... But it's still not right to raid other people's stuff." He put the rifle down and left the room. Ren chomped down the log cabin and followed with delight.

For the next few hours, Mustang explored the navy ship room to room, half having fun, half looking for the item he had in mind, and somewhere in a negligible corner of his mind worrying about his crew. Maybe he shouldn't worry; they've only been gone for some hours or so so far. From what he understand about Grand Line islands, their boss could take days, months or even years to set... Well, if it would take years, then that would be a problem, so hopefully not.

He sighed, hoping that they weren't being butchered by the demons in Sparts right now.

"I told them that we should've gotten an Eternal Pose with a safer destination," he muttered out loud to Ren. "Next thing you know, they'd be flying out of the wall and an army of demons and ghouls would be chasing after them! Hahaha!"

Ren let out a pathetic whimper.

"Yes I know," the human answered gloomily with another sigh. "I kind of miss them too..." He stepped out of another soldiers' room. "This place isn't as exciting as I thought it to be."

"Woof!"

"Shut up! You just ate an hour ago! How can you be hungry again?" he scolded, opening another door.

The worm sulked. "Woof! Ooooh, woof!"

"Sheesh! You're always hungry!"

"Woof! Rawrawr, woof!"

"'Growing girl' my neck! That's the same excuse Chuckie uses! ...Whatever, just don't eat other people's stuff! If these jackasses come back, you're gonna get your butt kicked."

"Grrrr, woof!"

"Meh, you're full of shit, Ren!" Mustang snorted, opening the last room down this hallway as the worm "hmph"-ed and stuck her nose into the air snobbishly.

From the looks of the large, junk-filled desk, the fancier bed, and the better polished furniture, it was no doubt the Marine Captain's room.

_Bingo!_

The human raced for the navy officer's desk while the pet worm rummaged through the garbage for something remotely edible. Nothing. Half eatened banana, a hamburger still in its wrapper, expired candies... Yuck! She made a gagging noise to show her displeasure. No houses anywhere!

"Aha, found one!"

She took her head out of the waste basket. "Ooh?"

Then, something exploded outside.

* * *

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

"Aaaah! We made a hole in the middle of _Maria_!" Chuckie screamed, being the first one to scramble out from the Flyer.

Hiroki, the second one to get out, stared at the catastrophe with utter calmness before sighing at the knowledge of having more work to do afterwards. Meanwhile around him, his crew mates were already scrambling around the deck, raising the sails and heading into the operation room, readying for take off.

"Let's get moving, Shipwreck!" Kidd barked at him.

At the same time, someone called from the marine ship near them- a ship that they had been too occupied to even take into consideration. "OI! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"ANIKI! REN!" Camry screamed at his oldest brother and their pet, both of who were running their asses off toward their crew. "HURRY UP! WE'RE LEAVING!"

"What the hell is that thing!" Mustang screamed as he climbed on board, eyes popping out at the Flyer. Then, his eyes found Zinc. "WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON?"

The stranger did not even look at him, but shot his arm up in the air and looked down at Kidd. "My Fuhrer, do not worry-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" their captain howled as the ship began to move. Killer had already activated auto-paddling. "That's not going to be enough! Oi, Shrimp, go press that damn button on the mast!"

That stopped just about everyone, especially Chuckie, who froze in the middle of his running and stared up at his boss with disbelief. Wasn't that one his three rules?"...Huh? Wait, but didn't you say that we can't touch it ever-"

"Forget that!" Kidd barked. "Go press that button! What the fuck are you wasting time for?"

"Really?" the child squealed with happiness. "I can press the button?"

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID! PRESS THAT DAMN BUTTON!"

Without further ado, the boy raced to the main mast at top speed, eyes shining as he spot the tiny red button that rested just above his head. The one where if pressed, would open up blade-like rotators at the bottom of the ship, which, spinning at high speed, would create a single whirlpool. With enough water power generated, the force would send the ship flying for two kilometers where it may or may not land on water... Of course, Chuckie knew none of that. His fingers itched with delight. Not wasting another second, he pressed the red button, still looking at it, waiting to see what it would do.

He failed to noticed the ship sinking lower into a whirlpool, so he certainly wasn't prepared when they suddenly flew out of the water.

"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

**_KAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_** The battle within Sparts ignited simultaneously, a mushroom-shaped cloud blowing up in to sky a moment after.

...

Two kilometers later, _Santa Maria_ crashed once again into the sea.

Chuckie barely hung on. Kidd, prepared this time, gripped the rail tightly as he was submerged under water and tossed back up, soaked as a wet rat as he threw up seawater, his vision swirling. Sloth had torn a piece of the sail cloth with his grip, while one of Mustang's leg got trapped inside a small hole in the board, his only arm holding on to Ren, who was strangled by his clutch. She gasped and flopped for air as he swayed dizzily by the end of the ride. The rest of the crew fared relatively well.

Zinc, the only one who seemed absolutely unaffected by this whole ordeal, stood up and saluted an one hundred fifty towards the small speck in the distance that was the island of Sparts. The mushroom on top was growing.

"THE FUHRER IS SECUUUUUUUUURED!" he roared.

Kidd cursed the devil.

* * *

"So, who is he?"

Apparently, only nine hours had passed from when they arrived to Sparts late that same morning to current time. Night had fell. Hiroki and Chevy were busy beneath the deck fixing leaks, the kitchen door was broken during _Maria'_s little trip across the sky, leaving the kitchen exposed. Camry made their dinner, and Chuckie swept the deck, deciding that he didn't like the button that much after all. The sea was calm, the stars twinkled in the sky, and the moon cast a breath-taking glimmer across the ocean floor. Kidd, Killer, Sloth and Mustang sat in a circle, staring at Zinc, who was in the center looking down at the captain.

"He's not dangerous, is he? ...We're- uh- we don't have to kill anyone here, right?" Mustang suggested when his very first question got no answer, staring at the man with weary eyes. "He looks... eh..." There was really no way for him to describe what adjective he felt would suit to describe this caped stranger. Maybe eccentric? But that was too mild of a word.

"He's a Spartian, one of those rumored 'demons'," Killer answered.

"He doesn't look like one."

"He's a weirdo, that's what he is!" Kidd said with a scowl.

"My Fuhrer-" "Don't call me that!"

Then there was silence save for Chuckie's murmurs of complaints for being the only one doing any cleaning at the moment, which the adults all ignored.

Mustang then proceeded to bring up the third point. "If we're not going to kill him, then does it mean that he's part of the crew now?"

Almost immediately, Kidd's face morphed from irritation to horror at the idea of this crazy, bat-shit insane, expressionless fucking son of a bitch becoming a crew member. The gunner leaned back at the face, nervous and knowing that he'd just suggested something unspeakable.

But before Kidd could spoke, Zinc spoke again.

"My Fuhrer, your Renewal has yet begun!" he reminded, stepping closer. "Shall I be given the honor to perform this glorious ceremony in place of my absent High Pre-"

"NO, YOU MAY NOT!" the redhead barked, comically scrambling away.

"What do we do with him then?" Killer asked. "We're not going back there again, that's definite, so unless we're going to try to ditch him or kill him, he might as well be part of us." He didn't sound all too pleased by such notion either.

"Recruit hmi? _Recruit_ this bastard?" Kidd snarled. "I say we shove him overboard! He's going to Fuhrer me!"

"'Fuhrer' is not a verb," his first mate corrected.

"You know what I mean!"

Sloth glanced at Zinc. "The island is unapproachable at this instant. The radiation caused by the explosion is highly dangerous. From my point of view, he could turn out very resourceful later on if we can change some of his teachings. A Spartian strength isn't something to be looked down upon."

Kidd didn't like it. He didn't like it at all! But it was true. Other than killing, and drowning, both of which might end up unsuccessful, there was no other possibilities. They couldn't go back and just drop Zinc off; the leftovers from the bomb would kill them.

_Fine..._

"Just re-educate this bastard before he 'Renews' me in my sleep!" he shouted at Killer.

* * *

A month later in the land of Sparts, the smoke finally cleared enough to allow a little visibility. The extreme temperature had cooled.

The wall seemed to have contained most of the damage caused by the bomb, as the outside of the empire looked rather undisturbed. Inside, the once great monuments lay in ruins. The dome was completely gone, as were the pyramids of the mathematical gods. All previous standing structures were crumbled to dust and ashes. Many platforms no longer hovered on top of the ongoing giant bolts. The thin stairs were melted out of shape, some even dissipated by the extreme heat. The only thing that stood tall was the poneglyph in the center of the kingdom, unharmed, undisturbed.

For an entire month, nothing moved except the smoke and the electric bolts. Wind hardly blew. The place was dead, all life extincted.

Somewhere on the ground, a hand suddenly pushed itself outward on the thirty-first day.

Then, just like she had just risen from the dead, Zeva weakly struggled to stand, wobbling and tipping ever so often. Her eyes and nose were even slower to adjust.

She walked extra fifteen steps before something erupted from the ground in front of her, and like her, Zaik, the youngest general crawled out, coughing and sucking in the poisonous air as he did so. Soon following him was Zuzuzulok, who emerged some fifty feet away, followed by the High Priest, followed by several cadets and low-ranking officers. One by one, the people pf Sparts recovered themselves and rose from their burials.

To a barbarian, this would seem like a miracle. The explosion was easily thousands in degrees. Maybe even tens of thousands. Bizarrely, the civilization structurally did not survive, the people did. Because they had adapted to it. Because they were great, greater and tougher than all other human races.

In time, the empire gathered without verbal instructions, all waiting to see what will happen next. The four highest-ranked warriors stood in the dead center.

"Comrade Zeva, you have committed tragic mistakes, tragic," the High Priest scolded, initiating the talks. "You are aware of it now, do you?"

Zeva, who once so proud and haughty, looked at the decimation of her people and empire, looked at the solemn faces, and forced herself to bend her neck, unwillingly so. "I am aware of it," she confessed. "I am prepare for demotion or execution, if the empire and our deities see fit."

"This is humiliating, utter humiliation," Zuzuzulok said, "For a top warrior to bring such destruction to our nation that even barbarians are incapable of creating! Future generations hearing this will mock, and judge our dishonor and incompetence."

"Very true, Comrade," Zaik agreed.

She nodded too, but stood firm by her belief.

"Dishonor I may bring, but the making of a barbarian as our Fuhrer I do not approve," Zeva said. "It may very well denounce our people to that of lower than them! If anything, I would take one of _us,_ if not myself, to assume that position."

The old priest stared, and after a while, slowly nodded.

"I believe it is in the best interest of our gods to select a Spartian to have that title, since our original Fuhrer may be out of our reach. But who?" he asked. "All of us are alive, meaning that the gods destined none of us to be the ideal. We'd have to hold contests and battles, perhaps a contest of starvation to see who dies first? It would be some times before-"

"I apologize for interrupting, generals and High Priest!" a lower-ranked officer suddenly spoke up, then saluted them to show his apology. "But I was discovered a dead body of a comrade buried under the temple of the Twin Goddesses of Axes' ruins. We have also discovered that one of our comrades, Cadet Zinc, is missing. Therefore, we believe this body to be his corpse." The Spartians parted ways as a female warrior carried up a burnt, deformed body that much resembled Sparts' previous burnt, deceased Fuhrer's corpse.

The three generals' eyes all widened in surprise as did the High Priest's.

"THE GODS HAVE SPOKEN!" Zaik cried in the mist of the silence. "THEY MUST HAVE REVOKED ALL OF COMRADE ZINC'S MISTAKES AND SELECTED HIM AS THE NEW FUHRER!"

The empire resounded this new-found mirth with an ear-shattering roar followed by the slamming of weaponries, and all was forgiven.

Sparts was rebuilt within five months, all ceremonies proceeded, all homes replaced, nuclear weapons were once again outlawed, and the history was deleted to hide the shame of this generation from descendants. Everyone agreed to pardon Zeva to not bring up questions, although her mistake counts remained as it was.

And when Fero's identity-mistaken dead body was placed within the re-constructed dome as the new Fuhrer, they truly lived happily ever after... for another two hundred years, that is.


	59. Inter Arc: A Series of Disagreements

******Author's Note:** Thanks to_ The Chibi Fluffy, ANIME1FTW, Cloverskeet_ and _NoctisStella20_ for reviewing!

Like the early update? B)

Someone asked me in a previous chapter's review how was the Spartians able to tell that Kidd is eighteen, and I never answered. That's easy; they guessed. They guessed everyone's age. Kidd does look older, but that's by outside world's standards. In Sparts, Kidd looks eighteen, Chuckie looks six, Killer would be sixteen by his height, Camry would be twenty and so on. Ah... One Piece logic, I love you.

* * *

_There were webs all around him._

_Kidd didn't know where 'There' was, or if it could be anywhere at all. Everything looked abstract, senseless and surreal. There was nothing in front of him. Without turning around, he already knew that there was nothing behind him either. His feet were on solid grounds, yet the ground couldn't be seen and he felt weightless. It was like a vast space of nothing, and he was but an insignificant point- not even one dimensional- just floating._

_There were silver webs all around him, and he had no idea how they got there, or what they were hanging to._

Ante?_ Cold fear ran through him at the thought of that name before a sketchy image of distorted lines replayed the Hell Kaiser's death before his eyes, reminding him._ No, I killed him. He's not alive anymore!

A nightmare?

_"Kidd." His name rang. "Do it."_

Killer?

_"Do it."_

_Do wha- "Aargh!" He hissed with pain as something struck his face, bringing him down on the wooden ground- _Wait, a deck? _- mocking laughters echoed all around him. The scenario had changed from the nothingness. He was younger, smaller and skinnier with unrestrained hair. A bandaged foot was in his face, taunting him with its foul alcohol-drenched odor. Its presence made him realize exactly where he was; back on Ghanga's ship in the middle of his Apology Ceremony._

_Killer, who stood tall besides his father, looked down at him with a cold, imperial aura. _

_"Kidd. Do it."_

_The foot waved in his face._

_"What the hell?" he muttered, not taking his eyes off his first mate. "Oi, Killer!" he shouted, deep down k__nowing its useless, but couldn't bring himself to care. His rage was high from the renewed humiliation, from the reminder that he had once been so below him, from the memory that he was a nothing. The foot kicked him again, yet, his anger directed itself without his consent towards the masked man. It was all Killer's fault. It was all because of him! He could've stopped this! "You forced me! You lied, but you really forced me!"_

_"Do it." Spoken like he didn't even hear Kidd._

This is a dream, _he told himself, struggling to calm the furious emotion._ It's not like that anymore between us. He's not above me now. _Killer's figure back then was towering._ He cares for me, he respects me, he-_ But the anger was real. _

_"You will do it, or I will leave," dream-Killer said icily._

_What?_

_WHAT?_

_"I will leave."_

_The foot kicked. His dirty nails dug into the floorboard, and his fingers bled. Either this dream didn't allow him to feel that pain, or his surging rage would not allow it to register._

_"Become the Pirate King, or I'll leave."_

_He stared up at the mask, his heart skipping beats, racing, and stopping._

_"Do. It."_

_"You can't leave! You're not allow to leave!" Kidd howled, rising up from his bow and lunged at Killer and-_

_Everything distorted again. Sound melted into pictures, the foot odor faded, blending with indescribable ugliness. Amid the confusion, another voice that he hadn't heard in the longest time spoke to him. He hated that voice._

_"You're perfect you know?" _

What?

_"How about we make a deal, Kidd-san?" A mental image of a certain grin flashed through his mind. What was going on? Who was talking to him?  
_

_"Kill Killer for me."_

Kill?

_"You were curious about Killer's face, weren't you?"_

...His face?

_"Then kill him."_

_It was Ghanga, wasn't it? Weren't those the exact words of the offers he'd tried to make to Kidd? Kill Killer?_

_"Do it."_

_The silver webs burst with illuminating lights in the nothingness as Ghanga's voice rang._

_"Kill him."_

_Somewhere in the distance, Killer screamed his name._

"Kidd!"

_His world suddenly shattered as the blood splattered all over his face. He could taste his first mate, could smell the scent within the metallic crimson. A body fell in front of him, the polka-dot shirt soaked, a thread of silver around the neck which he'd tenderly bit and nuzzled during sex just before sleep. There, he could see a mark he'd made nights ago. Killer had complained about it, telling him to at least mark somewhere where the rest of the crew wouldn't notice._

_Well, serve him right! Killer should understand! He was Kidd's, that mark proved it._

Wait.

_What was he doing? What the _hell_ had he done!_

"Kidd, wake up!"

_He'd kill Killer! No! NO!_

"WAKE UP!"

Cold sweats broke out all over as his eyes flew wide open.

...

"Oi," Killer whispered in a worried voice. "What the hell was that? You were screaming in your sleep." A cool hand covered his forehead, as if checking for a temperature. It pulled away seconds later when it didn't find anything out of ordinary.

Kidd looked up at the mask, recalling what he'd just dreamt, and looked at the blond's neck. No thread around it. Good. He shut his eyes again and breathed deep.

"Bad dream," he finally replied, swallowing. "...Your father was in it."

Killer tensed.

"You were going to leave me if I don't become the Pirate King, and then he told me to kill you. So I did."

...

"Go to sleep."

"It was a weird dream. I won't ever kill you."

* * *

_""Just re-educate this bastard before he 'Renews' me in my sleep!"_

That order dictated the lives of the Kidd pirates for the next few days.

Killer had never ever thought that anything could be harder than teaching Kidd. To be frank, he'd never compared the difficulty of the task to anything else because he'd never taught before. Therefore, there was nothing to compare it to. Now, he found an impossibility that he never envisioned could be achieved, if an achievement it was.

"Stop with that face," he scolded the rigid man in cape with equal rigidness. "There's no need to look so tense all the time." A pair of wide eyes stared down on him accompanied by a stone-hard expression. Veins of annoyance popped on the masked man's forehead in response. "Remember what I told you. Relax your jawbone. Stop wrinkling your eyebrows."

"This is the look of a Spartian warrior, Comrade Ziller!"

Killer growled with frustration. "And do _not_ call me 'Comrade', 'Ziller', or the two combined in any shape or form! You are no longer in Sparts!"

Zinc nodded gravely. "I understand."

The blond mask-palmed, and took a deep breath.

"Then, what is my name?"

"Comrade-" The air iced and sharpened dangerously. "...Ziller."

"It's _K_iller," he corrected furiously.

"Ziller," Zinc repeated.

"_Killer._"

"Ziller."

Another sigh. "Let's go over this again. Give me a synonym of the word 'murderer' that starts with the letter 'K'."

"Killer," the other replied proudly.

"Good, now say my name; '_K_iller,'" Killer urged, emphasizing on the 'K' for the last of some hundred times.

"Ziller."

Silence.

_...This is getting nowhere..._

* * *

It wasn't long before a major concern arose, and whenever major concerns arises, one can be sure that drama will ensue between the captain and the first mate.

"This is all your fault, Killer!" Kidd accused, jumping high to evade a swing of wooden plank, which crashed against the rail as it missed. "You're the one who said '_You_ are the Log Pose!' And now look at us, we're drifting in the middle of nowhere because I didn't have the chance to acquire that stupid magnetic field back there!"

"Uh-" Mustang tried to interrupt, standing outside in his pajamas. Chuckie in similar pajamas stood beside him, yawning.

The fight started somewhen around dawn, waking everyone up save for Ren, who was already up by then. Doors were kicked, eardrums were abused, and Kidd flew a couple of times around the deck until he finally realized that it'd probably be the best for him to also dodge the attacks as his quarrel with his lover went on.

The amount of pointless damages did not make Hiroki a happy fellow, who already had his sleep disturbed, muttering from his bedroom window as he speculated this scene something along the lines of, "When I made your room sound-proof, Sencho, I expected you to at least keep your end of the deal and not bother the rest of us, _please_..." Needless to say, his nerves were easier to aggravate during the past few days, and for good reasons too.

"Oi, Boss-" Mustang tried to interrupt for the second time, sweat lining his forehead as he debated with himself as to whether or not getting in between their fight would be a good idea.

"You dumbass!" Killer snarled. "I told you, it doesn't make a difference if it was you or a real Log Pose! Both of your work the same way!"

"Don't compare me to an inanimate object!"

"I'd _much_ prefer an inanimate object over you!" He tore a piece of rail away and hurled it up towards the redhead, who'd already jumped onto the roof, growling as the wood hit the wall. "At least it'd have more sense!"

Chevy stepped outside, rubbing his eyes. "What are they fighting about this time, Aniki?" he asked, then jumped as the kitchen window shattered.

"OI!" Camry barked angrily. "Stop wrecking my kitchen, you bastards!"

Going back to the conflict at hand, Kidd wasn't at the least ready to surrender as he stood on the roof looking down at Killer, who was on the upper deck emitting cold enough air to form frost, which made the rest of the crew rather weary as white began to appear on various spots around said masked man. Sloth in particular observed this odd power, confused and pondering as he felt the cold smothering him slightly. He'd felt it times before, but this time really made him wonder.

"What an odd form of _that_ power," he muttered under his breath.

"What did you said?" Chuckie asked, glancing up at him with big eyes.

"Killer-san... This power of his..." the doctor said with hesitation, unsure if he should go on.

"Oh, that?" The boy smiled, shrugging. "I don't know either. He just does that when he's mad; it doesn't really do anything though."

"Boss! Killer-san!" the oldest Chuck brother attempted to interfere once more. "Will you both calm down and listen to-"

_CRASH!_ Another chair shattered against Kidd's metal shield. Pieces of the wood fell directly in front of Hiroki's window, who by now was making a list of all the things he had to fix.

"Well if you're so great, then why aren't you getting us somewhere, huh? Isn't that your fucking job in the crew!" Kidd snarled, his face as red as his hair. "If I'm so lousy, then perhaps you should've bought- Oh, I don't know, a real _Log Pose_ maybe!"

"What the fuck do you expect me to do? You can't navigate like that on Grand Line!" Killer snarled back. Ice flakes were dropping out of thin air by this point. "Fucking idiot! It's your fault for wanting to go to Sparts in the first place when we could've gone somewhere with an easier magnetic field!"

"DON'T YOU DARE BLAME ME FOR THAT ONE! YOU'RE NOT EVEN A REAL NAVIGATOR 'CAUSE A REAL NAVIGATOR WOULDN'T HAVE LET US GET LOST! YOU JUST TELL THE WEATHER; THAT ONLY MAKES YOU A WEATHERMAN, YOU HEAR ME? A WEATHERMAN!"

_Shit._ The rest of the crew froze.

"The Fuhrer is always right," Zinc not-so-randomly inputted.

And before Kidd could even blink again, Killer knocked Zinc out with a wrathful kick and, in the split of that same second, leaped and punched the captain off the roof. A loud explosion of the back deck being decimated told everyone just how hard the impact was.

Camry shivered. "Killer-san's temper is godly," he muttered as more screaming went on.

"I wish they'd listen to me," Mustang complained, yawning again. "Ren and I found an Eternal Pose in that marine ship, ya know. Jeez, those two jackasses..."

"Ay," the cook said, nodding. "Waking us up at three in the morning- YOU FOUND A WHAT?"

"Oh, I didn't get to tell you," the oldest brother said calmly as everyone shifted their attention to him. "Ren and I were exploring that marine ship from before because we were bored, so I thought that I might find an Eternal Pose in there in case anything happens to you guys in Sparts. And I did; I found one going to a place... Uh...Hm... Let me think..." He scratched his head. "It was some place call Mountain Hera, or something like that. I have to double check. It's in my underwear drawer."

Everyone stared at him.

"Problem solved then," Hiroki said, rolling up his long list and reaching out to close his window. "I'm going to sleep for another two hours."

They all agreed that sleep would be nice, and departed, going back to their bedrooms.

Ren had snuck inside the kitchen and was eating house-shaped cookies the whole time.

* * *

That same afternoon, the hot sun boiled the sea and baked the ship, as if deliberately following the crew to fuel their already intense agitation. Chuckie and Ren hung between the rail, the two's upper bodies hanging over the ship, sweating like a couple of pigs with their tongues out. Inside, Camry tried ineffectively to cool himself down with milk and fudge cake. Kidd had already hustled Killer inside the captain's quarter, doing heaven-knows-what to cool off, completely forgetting their earlier fight. Sloth was in the infirmary as always.

"We'll start easy," Hiroki began smoothly, pointing out several set of problems on the paper. He was outside on the deck, shielded from the sun rays by a giant umbrella, which didn't help with the heat at all, as he should have realized earlier. "Beginning with basic grade school arithmetic. Forget all about the principles you've learned as we are going to start from scratch with one plus one. Now," he paused to look at Zinc in the eyes. "Please note that, here in the outside world, one plus one can never equal anything but two."

The other huffed unconvinced and protested, "That is where the principles of Situational Theorem come in-"

"No..." the shipwright interrupted, his voice getting a little firm. The heat was getting to him. "Math is not situational. It is theoretical. That's what gives math the stability it has. If it is situational, then the numbers will be all over the place."

"Exactly."

"Do you understand what I'm trying to convey here?" This was not a good idea.

Zinc's nostrils flared. "The Goddess of Situational Theorems and her seven daughters shall disapprove your lopsided mentality, Comrade Ziroki!"

"My name is _H_iroki."

* * *

After days of strange and sullen silence from the second-youngest crew member, Chuckie pointed out of the blue at the newcomer one morning.

"Bat-chan."

"Hm?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look out of curiosity, only to see the boy grinning, looking mighty pleased with himself. Zinc looked especially puzzled.

"Your name sounds so weird," the afro-head declared, snickering. "So I thought up of a new name for you! From this day forth, you'll be known as 'Bat-chan'!"

"'Bat-chan'?" Kidd frowned, stopping beside the youngest brother and looked at Zinc up and down. "Why the hell a bat? He looks more like a roach to me."

"'Roach-chan' doesn't sound as cool," Chuckie insisted, nodding with self-approval, earning an odd look from his boss.

Then...

"'Zat-chan'?" the newly-named narrowed his eyes.

"It's 'Bat-chan'," came the correction.

"I do not like the sound of 'Zat-chan'," Zinc said. "It holds no value."

"I said, 'It's 'Bat-chan'!'" Chuckie barked with a pointed finger. "And your real name doesn't hold any value either!"

* * *

A week later, it was painfully obvious that not only Killer had lost it with Zinc, but Hiroki's evergreen patience was also starting to wither. During that period of time, Hiroki had scientifically corrected Chuckie that "Zinc" was not meaningless, but is the name of an element by the atomic number of thirty. Although, he did agree with the boy that there was no connection between such name and the named person, and a nickname that doesn't start with 'Z' might quite benefit the re-education process.

Now, time had zoomed to another hot afternoon in the middle of a reading session that consisted of Kidd, Chuckie- whom had been pushed into this by Camry-, and of course, the usual attendant of the somewhat unforeseen addition to the crew.

The sun was beating down on them like the bitch it was, but the masked man's aura was freezing everyone but Hiroki and Kidd to death.

Chuckie wanted to get out of here, constantly giving Ren, who was perching in the Crow's Nest bathing the bright rays, grudging and envious glances.

"What the hell," Kidd continued to snap, perfectly aware of just how mad his first mate was at him yet no caring. He hadn't gotten any for at least three days, what the fuck? Apparently, they were arguing again, only he didn't know what Killer was mad about this time. "I ordered you to re-educate _him_! Stop paying attention to me when I don't need it!" He furthered his point by slamming the book down. "What's so useful about reading anyway? I lived eighteen years without it and I'll live eighteen years more! This is bullshit, Killer!"

Said first mate gutted him with a punch.

"_Read it._"

The nine year old shivered and hid behind his book. Killer didn't even sound remotely human just then.

Hiroki, on the other hand, still could not get over the mathematically philosophical differences between him and Zinc; the quiet observer sweat-dropped as he watched the conversation, thinking that just maybe Hiroki was taking it too personal. Besides, he thought this was a time to focus on the language aspects, not the numbers.

"This so-called Situational Theorem _was_ not, _is_ not, and _never_ will be an acceptable practice." The shipwright's tone was incredibly firm and glacial, even if his speech was soft and his expression indifferent. It was by that moment that Chuckie learned how to tell when the man was angry; the softer, colder he spoke, the more one would want to be careful. "It is neither practical nor theoretical. It's simply not done. The essence of its idea defiles everything and contradicts just about every law that has been set in place."

Yes. He sounded upset. Extremely upset.

"There _is_ a need for parenthesis. It is a vital component that creates a key which governs the order of all the other five operations. For example, in certain equation such the finding of a debt after certain number of years due to the added interest, you will need to add one to the interest rate _first_ before powering up by the exponent that represents that certain interval of time..."

Zinc seemed unconvinced throughout all this ranting; in fact, he didn't even look as if he was paying attention.

"...Now the transitive property is..."

And going back to Killer-san and Boss-man.

"For the last time, you fucking idiot, the 'S's are _not_ backward!" the masked man shouted. "_You_'re the imbecile who's been writing it backward all his life! _This_ is the correct way to write it! You were doing it wrong!"

"Lies! I was doing it _right_!" Kidd bickered back heatedly, stubborn to the boots. "I am right! You're all wrong!"

"The Fuhrer's always right!" Zinc reaffirmed helpfully.

"WE DON'T NEED YOUR INPUT!"

Chuckie felt sorry for Bat-chan.

* * *

Eustass Kidd did not like to think himself as stupid, which was without a doubt what his first mate, and possibly many others, thought of him. Well, he was not! Just because he didn't know how to read or write didn't mean that he was too stupid to- it just meant that he hated schooling. Why? _Well, why not!_ he'd shoot back. Books were time-consuming, useless, and utterly boring in his opinion, and pencils always wobbled in his hand. He couldn't see why Killer, or anyone in his right mind for that matter, would even bother with any of this. Besides, he knew how to write his own name. What more could he need in life? Knowledge is only power if you're going to use it, after all.

And he knew for certain that he'd been writing his "S"s right; it was just the rest of those idiots who hadn't.

Beside him, his shipwright relentlessly resumed with his lecture, and even Kidd had to silently thank himself that it was Killer who could boss him around and not Hiroki, because he learned that the shipwright's lecturing was just that much worse; it hurt his ears to listen.

"Zinc-san," Hiroki said regardless, his thumb and index finger pinched together. "There is no point for anything else if this Situational Theorem exists. According to the nature of that mathematical law, any number can equal every number; it defeats the essential points of the order of operations- of which your people left out parenthesis- because you can easily make three plus two equal five as well as six. I do not know how it came into existence, but it should not have, and you should not believe it to be acceptable."

_Wasn't he the guy who was talking about ethnocentrism back there_? Kidd thought with a twitching eyebrow.

The cape-wearing pupil looked right on without a care with that same tense, stoic expression.

"Hiroki-san's taking it a little too personal," the shrimp whispered to him, watching as well. "This is the fourth time he'd repeated what he said in the last twenty minutes."

"He repeated _that_ four times?" Kidd whispered back with amazement.

"Well, he rephrased it four time, yes..."

But the shipwright wasn't done yet. "To tell me that this concept is plausible is as plausible as telling one that Santa Claus exists," he went on. "It is made up, false, and could never be done."

"Wait," Chuckie cut in before anyone else could say anything. Hiroki looked down, and found himself staring in a frowning face. "...What do you mean Santa doesn't exist?"

"Wait," Kidd cut in. "Who the hell's Santa Claus. I kept hearing about this bastard every winter."

Killer stared, stunned, and mentally groaned when he sensed the trouble ahead. "Don't say anything," he ordered.

Ignoring the first mate's command, Hiroki replied to Kidd with an impassive face, "A fictitious, red-coat-and-belt wearing pedophile who likes to stalk little children every winter by trespassing into homes by the means of a chimney, and eat everyone's cookies."

"That's not true!" the child shouted in a fit of rage. "Santa's a nice guy, and he's real! So there!"

"He's fake; he's a made-up legend," the adult disputed. "And a pointless one at that."

"LIAR!" came the cry.

"Hiroki," Killer hissed. "Shut. Up."

"I am merely telling the truth. Santa Claus is not real."

"LIAR! I'M TELLING MY BROTHERS!" Chuckie threatened in tears, hopping from his seat and running for the kitchen, sobbing.

The masked man sighed. "Why didn't you shut up like I told you to? Now look at what you've done," he said.

"He's nine, he should know better," the shipwright argued.

"_You're_ handling his brothers."

"I'll be more than happy to."

* * *

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Camry screamed at Hiroki over the dinner table. "WHY DID YOU TELL HIM THAT SANTA'S NOT REAL?"

"Chuckie it's okay, really," Chevy tried to comfort his little brother, whose mash potatoes and fried Sea King meats were in the danger of being covered in snots. Mustang had on a Told-You-We-Should've-Told-Him-Earlier face, eating quietly.

"I apologize for hurting his feelings."

"DON'T APOLOGIZE WHEN YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY NOT SORRY!"

"It's silly to blame me for the result of your bad parenting."

That only served to enrage the cook further. "WHAT BAD PARENTING?"

"Lying to him."

"THAT WAS- YOU- IT'S TRADITION!"

"It's bad parenting."

Chuckie wailed louder.

* * *

Just a question. Is Santa Claus incorporated in other countries' celebration of Christmas? I've always thought any country that celebrates Christmas has this Santa-tradition, but then I realized that even within Christmas countries have huge variations, so I'm really wondering now if Santa's just a custom of English-speaking countries or is everyone else also doing it.

Well, with that aside, we all know what time this is!

Name: Zinc (Zn), Atomic number 30, transition metal, molar mass is... I'm kidding. XD

He is... Ready? This is going to be shocking... **NOT AN OC**! Woot, bet none of you see that coming! */sarcasm*

Sorry for being obvious. B(

Age: In his late thirties

Eye Color: Dark brown

Hair: Black. From all the fanarts I've seen of him done by a certain artist on DA (Yeah, I'm talking to you, You-Know-Who XD No kidding, you're probably the only person who draws Bat-chan fanarts, I swear), it has been drilled in my mind that his hair is just past shoulder length and messy in the way that he either rarely washes it or uses way too much gel, giving it a nice, oily shine we all love about manly men.

Height: Think he's the tallest person in the crew, amirite?

Fighting Ability: Bat-chan, or Zinc as he is named by me, fights on par with Sloth, or Eddie. In case you've missed it, I've actually made Sloth stronger than both Kidd and Killer- and Hiroki, but he's an OC so we won't count him- for the time being; this fact may or may not change later. It makes sense according to this fic's plot right now. So as of right now, Bat-chan and Sloth are the strongest in the crew. On Bat-chan's strength, he has great defense, incredible reflexes, and highly developed Haki. He's also fast, fights with his trident, and can withstand deadly temperature as his entire people survived a nuclear explosion; If he'd been there, he would've survived too.

Those bunch of cockroaches...

And yes, I know that roach-rumor's a lie. The concept of it is just so fuckin' awesome, I couldn't resist its awesomeness. *Hearts*

Interests: Serving his "Fuhrer", piloting, playing Dance Dance Revolution (He's very good at it).

Characteristics: Loyal, honorable in the sense of a warrior's honor, fearless- and I mean it in the reckless, thoughtless sense. Has not yet developed a sense of humor.

One Unique Thing About Him: Eh... He's unique enough as he is.


	60. Hera

******Author's Note:** Thanks to_ Cloverskeet, The Chibi Fluffy, Kiku90_ and _Savage Valentine_ for reviewing! It seems like my last early update confused some of you. I apologize. -3-

Just note in the future that I do plan on speed-updating during this summer; in fact, my goal is a chapter every three days- which was supposed to be the original plan anyway- so that I may get the crew well into the New World before school starts again (High school senior year, here I come! Phff, I'm class 2012, I get to graduate before the world ends! XD). We'll see how many people can keep up with me! Gahahahahaha-ack! *Coughs*

Sorry.

* * *

The red button was again untouchable, and whenever one could not have something, the more they wanted to attain it.

Chuckie, who had before not liked the effect of the button very much, allowed the thrill of the forbidden to overtake him once more. He resumed his morning routine of getting up at the crack of dawn and gazing at the red button longingly, an index finger just touching it, giggling to himself as if he'd stuck a hand inside a cookie jar and nobody was around to catch him doing it. Even the terrifying aftermath of flying in the air had worn off- in fact, he'd grown to wanting to experience that again.

The feeling was thrilling, and he loved-

"Chuckie-" He jumped at the sound of his name and spun around to see Killer looking down at him from the second floor. "-Stop touching that button. You've already pressed it once."

"Well, uh..."

"Just go back to bed. If that emergency escape system got turned on, you'll piss Kidd off, and I'm not going to save you if you do," the masked man said.

"Uh, wait, Killer-san!" he called, seeing something off here. "...Did you just come from your own bedroom?"

The man's shoulders tensed. "So what if I did?"

"Um, you and Boss-man aren't fighting, are you?" he asked, and immediately regretted butting into their business, expecting to be yelled at.

"Going near that idiot kills off my brain cells. I need a break," Killer answered in such a nonchalant manner that it was hard to tell if he meant it or not. Maybe it was the result of working with Bat-chan for the past week; even Hiroki nearly lost it with the new recruit. "Go to bed, and for the last time, don't touch that button."

* * *

The island of the Eternal Pose was called, "Mt. Hera", as the writing had confirmed when Mustang dug the compass out of his underwear drawer. Asking around amongst themselves, it appeared that the place was relatively unknown. According to Sloth, this meant a good thing, because he would've heard about the island if any bad happenings made it infamous. The rest of the crew went with the benefit of the doubt, and looked forward to a more ordinary setting that they hadn't encountered for two islands.

Mt. Hera did not fail their hope. It was what the name suggested- an island consisted of a single enormous mountain that must be Hera itself- or _her_self, judging by the name. On the edge of the island near water, farming fields encircled the inner towns. High in the mountain were small but sturdy-looking housings sticking out from the rocks.

It would've been a peaceful sight had there not been the appearance of a large marine stronghold smack-dab just beneath the mountain, seagull flags fluttering proudly.

"...If the marines are there, then at least this means that we'll be much safer from threats of other pirates..." Mustang said. "If we keep a low profile, we can avoid conflict altogether."

The captain snorted. "Even if we get caught, what can they do to us? From all the marines I've met so far, it seems like those bastards are pretty weak."

"Just don't kill anyone," Killer snapped.

With the little discussion done, the Kidd pirates sailed away from the navy's eyes to a more seclusive spot, raised the sails, and split the shopping list, which, after hours of compiling, dropped on the floor and rolled some distance. Seeing the list, Kidd left immediately without listening to his first mate, not wanting to get hit with any chores.

A vein popped on the blond's head. "Oi-"

Chuckie and Ren followed their captain's suit, learning fast.

"Now not you-"

Zinc, ever so loyal to his Fuhrer, also followed.

Killer hissed with annoyance under his breath and ordered Hiroki and Sloth to go after them. Two of them should hold those bunch of morons down, he prayed. In the end, after some bickering, Mustang still got stuck with guarding duty due to his arm situation, much to his discontent, and Chevy begged furiously to stay too, leaving him and the cook the only ones who would be doing any errands.

"I'll take over the grocery," Camry offered, taking nearly half of the list. "There, you can just handle the rest, Killer-san." And off the cook went.

The masked man glanced at the lengthy paper in his hand, a little ticked even as the oldest brother offered to help for the umpteenth time, desperately wanting to get off the ship.

"Sorry, Mustang, we're not taking chances with you," he answered as he hopped down from the ship, letting Chevy do the convincing.

It was either coincidence, or maybe Kidd just hadn't gone very far, but he soon spot the redhead and Chuckie heatedly arguing in front of an antique and vintage shop, Chuckie obviously wanting to go in and the captain not wanting to be bothered with taking a child around town.

"If you want those junks so badly, then go in and buy them yourself. You have that worm with you too! I'm going drinking!" Kidd declared, trying to pull his leg away from the boy's grasp.

"Woof!" Ren barked for no reason, making the civilians stare and whisper even more than they originally were.

"You don't understand, Boss!" Chuckie said. "Those things right there are _treasures_! Those are the original! They're priceless _collectibles_!"

"I don't care!"

"They're so cool! I have to have them! At least lend me the money, jerk! Meanie!"

"No, I'm going to a bar! Leave me alone, dammit!"

"The Fuhrer's always-"

"ENOUGH OF THAT ALREADY!" Kidd took a moment to bark at Zinc. "AND MY NAME'S KIDD."

_What are they fighting about?_ Struck with curiosity, Killer walked closer, preparing himself to spew a lecture if he needed to. Seeing him, Chuckie ran over and made his trip a whole lot faster by dragging him to the store front; inside, the shop owner, employees, and customers all eyed them nervously. _Hold on, where's Hiroki and Sloth?_ He related that question to the child, who pointed towards a pharmacy across the street where the two were looking at the organic herbs section. A vein popped again. _And I thought those two were reliable._

"Be a little quieter at least," he scolded before either Kidd or the kid could say a word, ignoring Ren, who was leaning as close as possible to him as she could, sniffing him. "I thought you knew not to attract attention."

"Get the shrimp off my hand and maybe I can do that!" Kidd said, scowling down at the boy.

Ignoring him, Chuckie pointed at the items on display, jumping up and down. "Look! Look and tell me those aren't awesome! Boss is stupid so he won't understand-" "OI!" "- but you're smart, right, Killer-san? Can I have them? Can I? Can I?"

Killer looked down at what he was pointing at, and froze for a second.

"...'Daft Man and Punk Boy'..." he finally bought himself to read the sign below. "...You two are fighting about action figures?"

"No! Those are not just any action figures! This is the _original_ set; it's so fucking rare that it's _antique_, and I'm a fan, Killer-san, I'm a _big_ fan! Can I please have some money?"

Killer didn't take his eyes away from the masked toy superheroes, going a little cold inside. Chuckie's voice faded like the remnant of an echo as he subconsciously touched his own mask. Yes, Daft Man and Punk Boy used to be very popular in his childhood, he remembered... Unwanted, painful nostalgia hit like a storm, snapping him back to reality.

"...I have shopping to do," he told the boy, and walked off.

"Huh? B-But-" the boy stuttered hopelessly, watching him go and the pet worm following. "...Ren! Come back-"

"Hmph, I'm going to a bar," Kidd said, also about to walk off.

"Waaaait!" Chuckie called, getting desperate enough to put his flimflamming ability to use. The captain did not response at first. "Oi, Boss, wait up! I've got something to tell you!" he shouted, grabbing the red furcoat and struggled trying to drag the irritated redhead back.

"I already told you, I'm not buying them for you!"

"Now, now, just listen to what I have to say," he reasoned, grinning widely up at the man, who stared down with suspicion running high. What was the shrimp up to this time? "Killer-san's mad at you, isn't he?" the boy asked, allowing a sly glint to creep into his gaze.

Kidd gave him a ticked glare. "How the hell should I know?" he growled, knowing perfectly well that Killer was ignoring him.

"Did you notice what he was looking at? I bet you didn't."

"Hm? He was looking at something else?"

"Of course! He couldn't take his eyes off it! I'm surprise that you didn't notice! I was thinking how much he'd love you if you bought it for him the whole time!" Chuckie bulled, tucking his arms behind his back.

"...What was he looking at?"

The brat took this moment to turn around and start whistling. "Oh, I really don't know if I should tell you. After all, you have to go into that store for it, and I'm sure-" Kidd, annoyed, picked him up by the collar and shook him without mercy. People around them stopped and gawked.

"Just tell me! What was Killer looking at?"

"Oi! Oi! Put me down, you ape!" the boy hollered, swinging his arms and legs. "Sheesh, I'll show you! Stop shaking me!"

"You don't need to show me. Just say what it is and I'll get it myself!"

"It-" He browsed through his memory for the first thing he remembered. "It's that red silk sash on the clothing rack behind the window display!"

Kidd put the boy down and ran so fast for the antique shop that he didn't even bother with opening the door properly, choosing instead to kick it down, and stormed inside much to Chuckie and everyone else's horror. The store owner, a woman in her late fifties, screamed as the pirate scanned her store for a second before making his way to the old dusty clothes and snatched up the long red sash from its hanger. He finished his deed by marching over to the check-out and putting the cloth down on the counter with a slam of his hand.

"How much is this?" he asked the poor store owner, who stared up at him with white fright. "Tell me the damn price, woman, I don't have all day!"

"BOSS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Chuckie screamed with disbelief.

"Ju- Just take it! Don't kill me!"

"Huh? It's free?" Kidd said rather obliviously in a puzzled tone, frowned, and then decided to just let it go. "...Meh, fine with me."

He stuffed the sash into his pocket and walked out, looking unaware of what hectic he'd caused.

Nobody moved until he disappeared from sight.

"Sorry," Chuckie's apology to the store owner broke the silence. The woman, who was a timid lady that never married but had long wished for her own children, looked down at the big-eyed, afro-haired boy, who proceeded to put the two action figures of Daft Man and Punk Boy on the counter and smiled at her warmly. It was the perfect face of a sweet, innocent, heart-melting, gush-inducing little child. "Since he had his stuff for free, can I have these for free too?"

* * *

Inside the marine base, trouble already brewed.

The captain of said base was but a quivering rat in the presence of this man, whose giant stature, stern jaws and intense yet icy gaze sent shivers down his spine. His body was chilled, even though the heat radiating from the man was scorching. The captain, who will remain nameless, didn't dare to look up.

"I came from Marineford, hearing your report, Captain," the man said, seating himself and folding his arm. "You said that she has been sighted?"

"We're- we're pleased to have you, Sir. As- As for my report, I would believe it so, Sir," the marine captain stuttered. "Three nights ago, one of our scouting dinghies were attacked and taken off shore. the youngest scout of that group came back with several wounds. It was dark, but he's sure that he'd seen her right. It's her! She's on the island! He said that her face was covered and she held her sword in her left hand, but it's her! There's no doubt about it if a mere scout can pinpoint her amongst so many other criminals he knows."

The man stared at this captain for a good long time before standing up from the chair. A shadow cast over his eyes as he adjusted his cap with a gloved hand.

"Very good," he finally spoke. "After eight years of playing hide and seek, this treasonous woman will be extinguished here, do I make myself clear?"

"O- Of course, sir!" the captain answered. "We marines of Mt. Hera pride ourselves in our bravery and loyalty to the World Government. My men and I are at your disposal."

The man nodded, the only indication of him being pleased to hear this news.

"But Sir, if I may, there are currently numerous criminals on this island other than her," the lesser spoke again. "According to a report I receive just before your arrival, a certain Eustass 'Captain' Kidd and his crew also have been spotted around, as well as several other pirates of lower bounty amounts such as-"

"The order of the Tenryubito comes first," the man cut him off. "Of course, minor nuisances will be eliminated as well. I will make sure to take care of those rookies. After all, anyone who dares to go up against us will be judged in the name of absolute justice!

"Get troops ready."

* * *

"There you are, Sencho."

It was a dark, musky pub that Kidd had picked. The bitter smell of booze hung in the air mingled with the stench of sweat and the stink of unhygienic brutes that were drinking in this place. Hiroki found this bar none too pleasant; in fact, he dared say that low-life holes in the walls such as this one were revolting- he'd certainly never drink in here.

Behind him, Sloth walked close, carrying half of the herbs and medicines they'd bought as they made their way through the crowded room and towards their captain, who sat at a table near the serving bar, quite content with his large cup of beverage. It was no news by then that Kidd had gotten hang of holding his alcohol, rather than being drunk on not even half of what people would consider a pirate-size full serving. Chuckie sat on the adjacent side, happily playing with two action figures, disregarding the cup of milk in front of him. Zinc, dutiful to his 'great leader' as ever, stood like a stone statue behind Kidd and earning a lot of glares from other people around him.

"Where's Ren-chan?" the shipwright asked, settling down his things and looking around.

Chuckie took a moment to scowl. "She followed Killer-san instead," the boy grumbled, then turned back to his toys.

"What are you doing here?" the captain questioned.

"We were ordered to follow, Master Kidd," the doctor answered. "But we got a little side-tracked and bought some necessities from the local pharmacy instead."

Kidd didn't really seem to care, only frowned and felt for something in his pocket before allowing a little smile to creep onto his normally murderous-looking face. Around that same time, the tavern door creaked open, and in stepped a cloaked, crook-backed old woman supported by a thickly bandaged staff, wobbling as she walked. Many turned and snickered at her presence, but she steadily ignored it, making her way for the bartender.

"What did you two get?" Kidd asked his crew mates out of curiosity, not minding the ancient lady at all.

"Herbs, medicines, bandages," Sloth reported.

"Needles," Hiroki replied.

"Needles?"

"We also stopped to buy some of laboratory equipment," the black-haired man added. "A lot of beakers and test tubes got broken, plus I need to replace a few hammers, get some new nails, and upgrade repairing tools. Also, I need to find a way to purchase some wood around here since here doesn't seem to an abundant of free trees, and we're running low on supplies. The mountain's extremely rocky..."

While the adults had their discussion, Chuckie had gotten rather bored with his newly acquired toys already. He tucked them away somewhere safe in one of his pockets and observed the surrounding instead as he sulked about Ren.

It would sound absurd in other ways, but he was getting mighty jealous that his own pet, whom he found, groomed, fed and loved suddenly decided to focus all her affection on Killer-san simply because she thought he smelled nice. Well that wasn't fair at all! What about him, the real owner? Killer didn't even like her!

_Ren, you traitor._ He puffed up his cheeks in displeasure, crossing his arms. _I thought that we're best friends forever!_

"Oi, Obaa-san, no money no service!" the bartender said, taking the child's attention from his petty anger for a moment.

"Pl- Please..." the old lady who had just came in rasped in a deep voice. "I have the money... Just a little soup and bread will be fine..." She broke into a fit of cough, startling few people around her. "I'm but an old hag. Why deny me a little food? Here... I have money..." Her trembling right hand reached into the sleeve of her left, pulled out some folded beri bills, and placed them on the counter. The bartender looked at her with uncertainty, but eventually nodded.

"We have a full house right now, so you gotta share a table with them right there," he said, motioning the the Kidd pirates. "I'll get your order."

"Thank... Thank you," she said in her deep, gruff voice, and wobbled over to the yet taken end of their table.

_Poor old grandma,_ Chuckie thought, looking at her pathetic appearance. _They're so rude to her when she can barely walk. Wonder what she's doing by herself though? Doesn't she have a home? Is she from here?_

If the old lady had any knowledge of Chuckie staring at her, she did not show it.

Her hunchback was so bad that she couldn't even sit on the chair, but instead, stood by the table side as she waited for her meal. Nothing of her was exposed- a hooded black cloak covered her from head to toe. Her hands were gloved, and her head was bowed low, also covered by her black hood.

A moment later, a piece of bread and a bowl of soup were placed in front of her carelessly, and she thanked the server in that same creepy, rasping voice.

It was that instance that Chuckie reminded himself that it was rude to stare at people, so he ducked his head below the table, hoping that the old woman wouldn't call him out on it. That embarrassment was quickly dismissed when he saw something rustling beneath her cloak. He blinked in wonderment, eyes glued on the spot, thinking for a moment that maybe he had imagined it only for the rustling to become more noticeable.

_An animal?_ A flash of white hair peeked out. _A white dog?_

Then, like a mirage, two tiny, dainty pale bare feet dropped down and gently touched the dirty floor.

He was even more shocked. _A kid?_

This time, he surfaced once to make sure that nobody was watching him first, and immediately dove under the table just in time for the girl to fully emerge from the cloak. The old woman's instant reaction was stilling, then, as if the two were communicating by the movement of the cloak, the elder calmed.

But Chuckie wasn't calm in the least.

He hadn't seen another kid in ages, and things were getting really lonely on the ship with nobody to play with except that... good for nothing traitor-worm... Granted, the girl looked a little frightened seeing him, and a little younger than him, but he wasn't about to let the chance pass up.

"Hey," he whispered. "Psst, hey you."

She shrunk halfway back into the cloak.

_No, no, no!_ he gestured with a shake of his head, then used his hands to motion her to come out. She looked around twice, then looked back at him with fascination, then looked up at her guardian, then back at him, and finally took a small step out again. Above them, the old woman hungrily ate her bread and drank her soup. Chuckie took hold of the girl's hand and covered her mouth before she could make a sound.

"Shh..." he warned, then gave her a grin and a thumb up before whispering, "Come with me, it's boring and hot in here. Let's go play outside."

She seemed reluctant to do so as she kept looking back at the old woman.

"Your granny will be fine. We'll come back in later," he told her.

Then, with him in lead, they snuck behind the old woman, hurried into the more crowded region and in no time were outside. He let out a victorious laugh of joy at successfully getting out, earning odd looks from passersby; he'd thought that he'd be stuck in there forever with those bunch of smell old guys. The Boss was getting so weird lately. Going to stupid places like this, was he trying to be like one of those ugly-ass pirates? Even Anna-san's tavern back home looked like a five-star restaurant compared to this.

It was then he'd noticed that the girl wasn't beside him, but had instead dodged into a shadowed corner on the side of the building, walking further down the narrow alley as if trying to hide from people.

"What are you doing?" he called out, going after her. "Come out here, you can't play in there."

She didn't answer, but only walked down the alley further until she was in dead middle. Then she stood there, glancing back and forth trying to decide which way she should go.

Chuckie was getting quite annoyed with her. "Are you stupid or something? At least you can talk," he complained, walking closer before he fully noted her appearance. Once he did, he rushed forward and dragged her out to the other side of the alleyway into the sunlight, earning a little whimper from her as she shrank back into the shadow, shielding her eyes.

She looked like an antique doll coming alive. Her skin was as pale as un-colored porcelain. Her hair was snow white, as was her loose dress. Her eyelashes were white, her lips barely had the hint of pink. The only color, as he saw when she pulled her hands away, were her red, red eyes that looked as if they'd cry blood if she ever cries.

"You're an albino?" he asked, gawking before he could remind himself that it was rude.

"...What's an albino?"

Needless to say, he didn't have a very good explanation as to what it was, so he changed the subject by holding out his hand and formally introducing himself.

"My name's Chuckie, nine years old and about to turn ten," he said with a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Perry. I'm eight," she returned softly, but didn't shake his hand.

"So, what games do you want to play?" he asked, eager to get started. "I have some action figures with me. They're a superhero and his sidekick but I suppose we can still do battle. Or if you don't like action figures, we can play tag or hide and seek!"

Perry didn't okay to either. "I'm not suppose to be out. Arria-san will get mad at me. Can you help me get back in?"

"Mm?" He frowned, a little upset by this news. "But I went through all that effort to get us out so we can play instead of being stuck in there! Who's Arria? Is she the obaa-san inside? My captain won't mind so I'm sure she won't either. I can go talk to her if you want me to-"

"No you can't," she interrupted. "...Arria-san doesn't like talking to people."

"Well I just want to play. It's not like I'm kidnapping you or any-"

_BOOOOOOOM!_

And before Chuckie could even register what was going on, Perry grabbed his hand and ran like hell away from the blown up pub.

He had a millisecond to glance back witness the scene, and saw feathers dancing in the smoky air.

* * *

The rest of the Kidd pirates had paid but glances of attention at the old woman. They were more concerned about the bartender and the staffs, who were looking at the group with a mix of annoyance and fear. Annoyance from the fact that Kidd was the sole legitimate customer out of the four, and he was only on his first drink while the other three were just taking up spots. Fear from the hypothesis that they should probably not mess with someone that looked like the Devil's reincarnation, a zombie-looking, ab-human creature with blue deadlock, a giant roach-like brute of a person, and a man who wasn't scared of talking to the former three.

By the way, wasn't there a kid was a blond afro just now?

From eavesdropping around, the pirates had found out that Mt. Hera would take a little over two days for a Log Pose to set, and while this was civilization, supplies were still limited in terms of what they could get.

"We'll also need to move our ship to a different docking place tomorrow to avoid the navy's detection, Master Kidd," Sloth said. "Otherwise-"

"No, we don't need to do shit," Kidd growled, pissed at the suggestion. "What the hell? I thought that since you were a nakama of _his_ crew-" There was no need to clarify whom he was referring to. "-You wouldn't be that much of a scaredy cat! Marines are weak as shit. We don't even need to worry if they catch us."

"Master Ante took extreme precautions despite what anyone might think," the sin explained, sounding as if he wanted to say more. "I would suggest that we take more."

"Arrogance isn't advantageous, Sencho," Hiroki said. "Pride is deafness. We should play it safe."

"Tch," came the grunt. "'Play it safe' my ass...I thought that I'm a _pirate_..."

"Danger isn't what piracy is about," the shipwright said with his little smile.

"And what do you know about piracy, you Yakuza?" he retorted, scowling at the other man.

"A lot," said man calmly answered. "My family used to hunt them for their bounties, did you forget?"

"Like the hell I can! You wrecked our first ship, and your bastard of a father tried to kill me and Killer! In fact, _you_ tried to kill us too!"

"What is the past will be the past, let it be memories and not grudge last..."

"DON'T MAKE A POEM OUT OF IT!" Kidd barked, pointing an angry finger. "I HAVEN'T FORGIVEN YOU YET!"

And so, the one-sided quarrel went on at one end of that table. At the other end, the woman suddenly paused in the middle of her meal, having put something in her empty stomach even though she didn't fill it to her content. Inaudible to all other people in the room, she muttered something under her breath and waited, then muttered something else, and shifted her position a little. Her covered head moved in panicking motions as if looking for something, before wobbling over to bartender.

"Mister..." she croaked. "Have you seen... A little girl...? She's in a white dress..."

"You didn't come in with a kid, so I didn't see one," the bartender answered without a care, mixing a drink.

"Plea... please, are you sure?"

"Feh, who knows? This is a pirates' bar," he said, then smirked, nodding behind him at all the different crews in the room. "If she got kidnapped by some sea dogs, we won't know. Get out of my bar if you're done eating. This place isn't for old hags like you anyway."

But she had already ignored him.

"Perry," she called in a louder voice, wobbling over to the nearest table where three thugs sat, snickering at her and her hunchback. "Perry! Have you seen a little girl, gentlemen? She's in a white dress."

"Get lost, old woman! Ahahahaha!"

"No, no..." She walked away.

By this point, the entire room was staring and laughing at her even as she relentlessly continued to ask. The Kidd pirates exchanged startled looks, realizing that Chuckie wasn't here either.

"Oi," Kidd murmured, frowning. "You don't think that brat..." Nobody else added anything to his thought, all waiting to see what would happen.

"Obaa-chan, get the hell out!" someone yelled amid the mocking.

"Pointless and classless," Hiroki muttered. "What's the fun in laughing at an old woman?"

Kidd also sneered, half reminded of Akio, the aging mayor of his village back in South Blue, and half reminded of all the times he was humiliated like that. "Even ruffians are taught better than this," he agreed, thinking of ways to get a bawl out of this.

He didn't have to ponder for long.

"Yeah, kids disappear like that," another man said as he snapped his finger to prove his point, smirking like a maniac at her. "She's someone's little slave girl by now! Gahahahahaa- AAAHH!"

The plunge of a blade into his chest shocked the whole place into dead silence. The bandages around the old woman's "staff" had fallen aside, revealing a sword underneath, which she now harshly pulled out from him and pointed at the rest of the men.

"My Perry..." her old raspy voice hissed. "Where is she?"

"You old hag!" a pirate, probably the crew mate of the killed man, snarled, lunging for her with a drawn saber. His blade clashed down on hers, and he was immediately flung back. Without wasting a moment, she moved faster than anyone could anticipate, and swung her weapon as a group of the same pirate crew charged at her. Feathers flew out like shurikens and struck randomly, massacring men left and right. By this time, Kidd and Hiroki were already stunned and confused, never thought that an old hag as feeble-looking as her could be capable of fighting anyone. Zinc stood as passive as always, like what was happening wasn't even going on.

Sloth, however, had a whole different idea the moment he saw the feathers flying out from the sword. The doctor's eyes narrowed, and rage became visible on his face as he watched those blade-like feathers kill. Forgetting all needs of consent from his captain, he jumped and headed for the old woman.

"Oi!" Kidd shouted in surprise. "What do you think you're doing!"

The sword-wielder had sensed him already, meeting his attack with the sheathe. It was a sheathe made of pure hard gold, decorated by perfectly-carved rubies and emeralds ending with a diamond tip, and its sight only enraged him further; yes, it was _that_ sword!

"Who are you?" he growled.

"A Sloth?" she wondered out loud in a voice of amazement, but didn't let it overtake her like the sight of her sword did him. Knowing that his guard was down, she pushed him backwards. His heels broke the wooden floorboards, screeching, as Hiroki leaped into the conflict in an attempt to get him out of the fight. The black-haired man got met with a flight of feather shooting straight for him. He swiftly dodged and let most of them hit the ground of wall as Sloth unleashed his flame and burned another majority, only for one that was in both of their blind spots to struck from behind, burying itself deep into his abdomen and out the other side.

"Damn... Hiroki!" Kidd snarled as he watched his second mate injured, deciding that he had enough. "Sloth, stop fucking fighting her! That's an order!"

Most the men had already fled for their lives by that time, and Kidd made use of their leftovers and activated his power, efficiently forming a giant arm. He wasted no time to attack, swinging his pseudo-limb- swords, knives, bombs, bullets and all- at her.

The place exploded in feathers and metal projectiles, the ground beneath their feet quaked.

_BOOOOOOOOOM!_

By the time the smoke had cleared, there were numerous dead bodies lying around, but nothing of her left. Hiroki had pulled the steel-like feather out of himself, coughing up blood, Zinc stood in his same place waiting for an order, and Sloth ran ahead, stopping at the entrance when he could not figure out where she'd gone to. What was more, an army of marines, called to duty by the disorder, had them surrounded in a semi-circle by gun points.

"Pirates! Surrender or die!"

This didn't make Kidd happy at all.

"Tch, she ran away... What the hell were you doing?" the pirate captain growled at the zombie-like man, decided to blame it all on him since he attacked first. "Get Hiroki back to the ship and get him fucking treated!"

"There's no need. She merely took me by surprise," Hiroki said, getting up. "The wound's minor. I can managed back by my-"

"Sloth's the doctor so he's taking you back!" Kidd snapped, glancing at him.

The shipwright immediately understood what he was on about, and nodded.

Sloth seemed hesitating, but finally complied with the order, and moments later jumped over the marines with their wounded nakama causing the marine commander screamed for more people to go after the escaped criminals.

Kidd already had another idea in mind; his grim expression melted into an evil grin, determined not to let any of them go near his fleeing nakamas.

"Oi, Zinc!" he yelled.

"Yes, My Fuhrer?"

He was so pleased with the scenario that he didn't even bother correcting the Spartian. "Let's have a roll with them!"

* * *

They were in a murky cave on the outskirt of the town. Chuckie's legs gave away and he collapsed on the rocky ground, tired from the running. He stared at Perry, who was breathing calmly, with bewilderment. He had always thought that he was a fast runner, but he could barely keep up with her and he was the one who ended up panting like a dog.

The little girl sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"There were marines!" he burst out, remembering the rushing navy soldiers they were trying to run against. "There were marines everywhere on the streets!"

"Yes, I know," she replied.

"Wait," he said, confused. "You know what happened?"

"No."

"Then why were we running?" he demanded. "My crew's back there, you know? Boss-man's gonna get mad at me, and my brothers are going to be mad at me too because they'd think that I ran off again!"

She shrugged. "Running, that's what Arria-san said I'm suppose to do."

"Well, your Arria-san sucks!" Chuckie huffed, mad.

Perry's face fell a little by his angry tone.

"Sorry," she muttered, shrinking into herself and looking away.

The sight made him feel a little guilty, and regrets told him that he should probably apologize but his stubbornness remained firm. Besides, he was telling the truth. Whoever this Arria-person was did suck. She was the hag in the bar, wasn't that right? Well, it wouldn't make that big of a difference anyway. What could an old woman do to stop him from running away? He had nothing to worry about.

"So what are we doing now?" he asked, glancing out of their inconspicuous hideout.

"Arria-san said to wait for her here if anything happens," the girl answered.

"Mm? Okay, I guess..." He certainly wasn't happy with it. "Can I just leave now? You're not afraid to wait here by yourself, are you? My crew's probably looking for me."

"I don't know."

He frowned, then got up after a minute of frowning and dusted himself off. "Well, I don't care anymore. I'm going to go. See you-" He turned around, only to find the entrance blocked, the long shadow cast the black picture of a monster, and he fell back, staring up in shock.

"Perry!" the old woman called in her ugly voice from beneath her hood. Chuckie noticed that instead of a staff, she was clutching a golden sword and sheathe. "Perry? ...Are you in here?"

"Here," the girl replied.

Chuckie took this chance to scramble into hiding behind a large rock, slightly terrified by the the new presence; holding a sword like that put the woman in a completely different light. Maybe she was a... a witch? He muffled a gasp. Maybe she was like the witch from Hansel and Gretel, and she liked to eat little children! Maybe Perry wasn't even her granddaughter! Now that he thought of it, she never once called the woman "Grandma."

..._Shit, I don't want to die!_ He let out a little sob as Arria wobbled in.

But that wasn't what happened next.

The sword was set leaning on the wall, and the crooked, stooping stature of Arria suddenly straightened.

_Huh?_ A question marked popped on top of his head as a bag that was the source of the bump dropped from behind, evening out her back._ What's going on? She's not hunchbacked?_

"Arria-san, you're bleeding again," Perry pointed to the small droplets of blood on the ground.

"Yes, I'm sorry," a different voice of an young female responded in place of the old rasping one. The cloak came off, and a hand pulled down white bandages that had been covering most of her face. "I got clumsy again. Did I worry you?"

Chuckie's eyes were in the danger of popping out of their sockets witnessing the taking off of what was perhaps the most convincing disguise he'd ever seen in his life. The old hag was completely gone, replaced by this very beautiful young woman with lavender blond hair tied in one single french braid, cold gray eyes- although they weren't so cold as they looked at Perry-, an angular face of high cheekbones finished by an aristocratic sharp nose.

_...Are they sisters then?_ he wondered.

"Uh uh," Perry answered her question, shaking her head. "I'm hungry though. I didn't get anything to eat."

"I'll get you something tonight, all right?" Arria said, stroking the young girl's white hair with her right hand. "I got clumsy again and my cover slipped. We can eat again when we find a new disguise for us."

"All right."

The woman smiled, and gave her a hug. "Now, take a nap first. You must be ti-"

_Uh... Uh oh..._ Chuckie backed away when those eyes landed on him, narrowed, and all warmth faded from her face.

"Perry, who is this boy?"


	61. Hide And Seek

******Author's Note:** Thanks to_ Black Hyacinth, Kiku90, Savage Valentine_ and _Awesomeness_ for reviewing! Yes, I made it in on time!

I started reading Yuri. Now I want to write some genderbents, but I most likely won't. =u= I'll draw them instead... When I learn how to draw.

And just a thing about Sloth before you read this chapter; I'll admit that he wasn't fully developed in my mind when he first came about in this story. In fact, I had trouble getting him straight up until the middle of last arc, which is way after I did his profile. I'm not talking about personality, I'm talking about how he's going to work in regards to the plot prior to Sabaody Archipelago. All I have to say now is that most will be revealed next chapter with more information in author's note in the following chapter after that to set things straight. Pardon me, and enjoy.

* * *

Killer strolled aligning the country side of the island, bordering the towns.

The farms here were all large enough to be called plantations, with massive numbers of workers tilting the land, fertilizing the soil, herding the cattle and so on. It reminded him of his home island, where half of the population dwelt in the town, and the other half worked on small farms. He was a town's boy, forever watching farmers laboring from his family mansion's garden wall. Up close, such life did look very relaxing. He bet that he could swing a farmer's scythe as well as he could use scythes to kill.

Speaking of his scythes, he never got around to ask Hiroki to forge him a new pair; a sword was still strapped on his side. It would be wise to ask their shipwright soon before a fight comes on.

With that in mind, the masked man turned back into the nearest town and whipped out his list, which read "Black nail polish" on top in Chuckie's handwriting.

Killer's eyes twitched, knowing full well who told the boy to write it.

_That idiot..._

He crossed it off the list.

Next came, "Dark red lipstick."

...

Blinded by his agitation, he almost failed to note the marine guard to his left glaring at him with an expression of fear and hate while clutching his rifle. Killer stopped, and turned his mask towards the young soldier, who stood firm, but did nothing.

_He knows who I am?_ From the look in the marine's eyes, he must. _Why isn't he calling for my arrest then?_

_Strange._

Given no trouble, Killer decided to give none back, and continued down his path. Ten minutes later, still no marine attacked him.

Very strange.

* * *

Mustang continued to grumble grumpily under his breath even after all of his nakamas had been gone for thirty minutes. He could swear that the whole crew was working against him. Frankly, he could understand their worries; he did lose an arm after all. Still, an arm was just an arm. What was the big deal? There were plenty of people in the world who'd lost arms, sometimes, even two. Hell, there were people in the world _born_ without arms.

He just wanted to get off the ship and have some fun interacting with other human beings instead of being cooped up like a chicken.

"Aniki, please stop sulking already. You look silly," Chevy said, chuckling a bit.

"I'm not sulking," he denied, sulking.

"Yes you are..."

"No! I'm not!" he denied again.

Chevy, by then, had decided that the conversation about the prosthesis should be brought up before he let it drag on too much, and this was the perfect opportunity to start it; it was the reason why he had begged to stay on the ship with his oldest brother in the first place.

"You know what can solve your problem?" he initiated, hoping that it'd work out.

"What?" Mustang asked curiously.

The younger fully turned to him. "A fake arm," he suggested with a cheerily smile. "I can get Hiroki to make one for you, if you agree to it. Otherwise, you'll probably never be let off the ship, Aniki."

He waited a good while for an answer, only to find his brother staring at him with unreadable eyes and dull expression, like the man did not register a thing that he'd said. Nervousness squeezed his stomach as he wondered what was the one-armed gunner thinking about this idea. The longer the silence dragged on, the more nervous he got, until finally, Mustang burst into a fit of laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" the man roared, falling over on the deck, rolling around and pounding his fist on the ground, like he'd never heard such a thing in his life. "Fake arm!" he wheezed between breaths. "AHAHAHA! Fake- AHAHAHAHA! THAT'S FUNNY! AHAHAHA!"

Anger raised seeing how lightly the man was taking this.

"I'm not kidding, Aniki! You can't spend the rest of your life one-armed!" he said, turning red as Mustang struggled to hold in his laughter while getting up from the floor.

"Chevy, Chevy..." the man answered, grinning, shaking his head in the way of a wise man as he went on to give his younger brother a lesson of his view of living. Imaginary flowers blossomed and golden sparkles twinkled around him. "That's what you don't understand. I am who I am, be it with one armed, two, or three. What I lost, I lost, there's no need to grieve over it. A fake arm can never replace my real living flesh. It's... It just won't be the same! I shall be a man and take my loss. If I'm going to be one-armed, then that's the way I am!" He nodded, agreeing with himself as the flowers and twinkles disappeared.

Said brother wasn't taking it.

"That's not what I'm talking about! Aniki, I've already spoke to Hiroki about it and he agreed! So stop being so stubborn and optimistic about things, will you? Just get a fake arm and stop pretending that your life's okay when you know you're having hard times with simple, daily things like brushing your own teeth and feeding yourself!"

Those accusations hit home with Mustang, whose eyes suddenly darkened behind his glasses, shoulders tensed as if trying to think of a way to defend his case. Chevy prepared himself to rebut whatever, determined to convince the other no matter what.

What came out wasn't defense. "...Chevy, what do you mean you've already spoken to Hiroki?"

He opened his mouth, then closed, didn't know what to answer.

"What make you think that you can take matters like this into your own hands?" Mustang continued, sounding more angry by the second. "This is _my_ arm-"

_Whoosh!_

Sloth abruptly cut him off with his arrival, jumping onto the deck and racing for the infirmary. Seeing this, the two brothers quickly followed close, startled and filled with new worries at what might have happened to one of their crew mates. They came just in time to see an irritated-looking Hiroki with a profusely bleeding wound in his stomach being lay down on a white bed. His clothing were pried apart next, exposing the fresh wound to the stinging air.

Chevy winced at the sight, but the shipwright merely looked even more annoyed as the doctor cleaned up the blood, lifted his lower body up, and began applying the bandages.

"Your intestines were cut in some places. They're not severe but has damaged your digestive system. You should keep away from real food until the cuts heal," Sloth advised, gently letting the injured patient down again. "You'll be kept on liquid supplements through bags and syringes until then. Stay lie down for now."

The brothers watched all this from the doorway, confused by the hasty pattern of the treatment and Hiroki's careless attitude.

"...What happened?" Chevy asked.

"We had a little conflict in a bar," the man on the bed answered. "I got stabbed, and Sencho overreacted. What a pain..."

Mustang butted in with his questions. "Is Camry and Chuckie all right? Anyone else injured? Why only the two of you came back?"

"Camry-san wasn't with us. He's probably safe, I'd imagine," Hiroki answered with all honesty. "Killer-san wasn't with us either. Kidd-sama and Zinc-san stayed to deal with some marines, and Chuckie-kun..." He seemed hesitating to answer as his eyes went from the oldest brother to the ceiling. "We think he wandered away again. He was long gone before the fight started though."

The brothers' eyes immediately popped out. "WHAT?"

"I'm sure he's safe too," came the useless assurance.

"Shit, that kid! Always wandering off on his own!" Mustang said to himself, pissed.

"Half the time, we don't even know if he'd be in trouble or not!" Chevy agreed.

"Say," Hiroki spoke, noticing the lack of a certain presence. "Where did Sloth-san go? He was here just now cleaning up supplies."

"Oh," they answered. "He left while we're talking. Why do you ask?"

The shipwright frowned, stilling in the infirmary bed as he thought back to Kidd's non-verbal order, and knew that something was very, very wrong with their doctor. Why did he get involved in the fight in the first place? Where did the rage come from? And had Hiroki heard it wrong back there, or did the old woman actually said "_A_ Sloth" instead of just "Sloth"?

* * *

There was it again, the overwhelming blood lust that he'd first felt in Shamtown. It had morphed from the minor desire to pick a fight to the craving for killing. Just killing. Like last time, his nose grew keen to the scent of blood, and like last time, he had no idea where this feeling came from. There was none of his usual emotions involved- no hate, no fury, nothing. The sight of death calmed none of that, only the pleasure of taking others' lives heightened.

He was too distracted to question himself of how this came to being as bodies were impaled by his Devil Fruit power left and right. Grown men's screams rang in the air as bullets flew, missing him each and every time.

Zinc was doing a very good beside him, combating with the marines effortlessly. The Spartians, treating these people no different than if he would treat attacking barbarians back in his homeland, fended them off and took their lives without compassion or mercy. Only the order of his Fuhrer held any value in his mind- it was what had been taught to him since birth.

"Retreat! Retreat! Report back to the captain!" the commander this regiment screamed, bleeding from his forehead. Kidd's eyes landed on him, and the pirate grinned at the sight his next target. "Back to the base! We'll reinforce and take care of pirates late- AAAAAAAARGGGGH!" He was buried under metals, crushed to death by the pseudo giant limb in a matter of seconds.

The subordinates, seeing their commander dead, truly began to flee.

But he wasn't about to let them go yet.

_More._ Something within Kidd was calling. _More blood._ The hunger grew, and with a leap-

"YOU BASTARD!" And like last time, Killer's foot kicked him down.

Ren, who had been following the blond all this way, slithered onto the scene and was immediately hit with strong metallic scents of human blood. She made a little puzzled noise as the human argued amongst themselves, and began sniffing the fresh dead bodies.

Zinc stopped once his leader stopped, and froze, debating whether or not he should attack the attacker even though it was the second-in-command himself; he was confused as to why a lesser was able to harm his superior without getting punished, but stood dutifully, coming to the conclusion that unless Kidd said so, he wouldn't take revenge on the masked man. This proved to be a good precedent for his well being in the future.

"Have you gone mad?" the first mate shouted with disbelief. "What are you doing, you idiot? I told you not to kill anyone! Especially not the marines! I don't care if they're weak, you can't go killing people as you please! In fact... When the_ fuck_ did you become like _this_?"

"Hell that hurts..." the captain hissed, rubbing the spot on his chest. "You kicked too hard!"

"Not hard enough!" Killer growled. "This is the second time that I caught you like this, Kidd, what the hell is going on with you?"

"I just want to have fun!"

The air grew incredibly frigid. "Fun? _Fun_?" came the snarl. "You were like a madman!"

He flinched, and shrugged in shame, didn't know what to say. Maybe he was acting a bit mad. He didn't understand it either; he just went with the feeling... The feeling had suddenly disappeared, strangely. Only confusion rendered him, and now he was starting to wonder himself about the blood lust. It didn't even feel real.

"Let's go back to the ship," his first mate finally said, shaking his head with discontent. "We'll deal with the marines later."

"Woof!" the worm barked, following them. Strangely enough, she was tailing Kidd instead of Killer. Of course, because she was an animal, neither of the three humans noticed this eccentric change in behavior...

She had thought that it was a figment of her imagination before, but something _really _didn't smell right to her.

* * *

"Uh... My name is Chuck Chuckie, Ma'am!" the boy wasted no time introducing himself, flashing a wide goofy grin at her that he'd always used to charm older girls back at home with. It used to have a profound impact in the way that it always reduced them to a combinations of squealing like pigs, trying to cuddle him, or pinching his cheeks. "Nice to meet you!"

Arria continued to stare him down, eyes narrowing even further. She stared so long that he began to wonder what he'd done wrong. Then, not even bothering with him, much to his agitation, she turned to the girl and asked, "Who is he?"

"He dragged me out of the bar," Perry said, telling the truth. "And said that he wanted to play some games with me."

"...Games?" the woman repeated, as if she had never heard the word before in her life.

"I-I don't mean any harm," Chuckie jumped in, trying to explain himself as he sensed things going downhill for him. "I just thought that she was bored too in the bar, and since I was bored also, I thought we can just play hide-and-seek or battle with my action figure toys or something..." He trailed off, sounding unsure of himself. "I'm not a kidnapper or anything, y- you know? I-I'm only nine years old!"

"It doesn't matter how old you are," Arria snapped.

"W-What are you going to do to me?" he questioned anxiously, wishing that he was anywhere but here at the moment. "I'm just a kid!"

"And whose kid are you?" she demanded further, backing him against a wall and pulling her sword from its sheath slightly, making him yelp in fright. He didn't bring his iron bat, he remembered, which meant that he couldn't even fight back if she attacks. "Where are you from? Are you the son of a marine around here? A boy from this town?" She leaned down closer. "_Who?_"

He certainly couldn't tell her that he was part of a pirate crew from the way she was acting. "I'm from around here," he lied, nodding his head. "I'm definitely from around here somewhere. I'm from... eh... My parents are in the next town over. And- And-"

"What does your parents do?" she demanded, making him wonder where she was going with all these questions.

"The- They're... They're farmers and fishermen," Chuckie declared.

Perry suddenly stepped in between him and the woman, and pushed her away. "Arria-san, it's all right, he's not a bad person," she explained as he slumped onto the ground, relieved. "He really just wanted to play."

"Perry... You can't trust people like that. He's dangerous. His parents might be affiliated with the marines. He'll tell on us if we don't do something to him." She bent down and looked the little girl in the eyes, her speech going soft and sorrowful. "You know what the marines would do if they find us. They'll take me away from you and lock me up. Then they'll send you away to a dreadful, dreadful place with bad people, monsters and they'll treat you horribly. No food, no water, no Arria-san... You don't want that, do you, Perry?"

The spectator sweat-dropped having listened to her unconvincing baby-talk. _Even a five year old won't fall for those lame threats..._

Perry seemed thoroughly convinced; her red eyes grew wide and she shook her head frantically.

Arria smiled. "Good girl," she praised, patting the child's cheek gently. "Go take a nap. Arria-san will talk with your friend, don't worry."

"All right, I will..." she answered, slowly wandering off deeper into the cave to find somewhere to sleep before turning around and saying, "Don't be too mean to him, promise?"

"Promise. Now, go to sleep."

The smile didn't fade until the girl was gone.

Silence ensued for the next five minutes. As her eyes were glued on Chuckie, the boy couldn't move an inch to make his escape even if there was an opening. She was exceedingly pretty, yes, but he'd never met a lady who was so terrifying- her glare had made him forget all about Spartian women. In fact, Spartian women couldn't even compete with this glare, now that he thought about it. Five minutes passed, Perry's steady breathing could be heard, and the woman made the first move by drawing out her sword.

"W-Wait a minute! What did I do?" he whimpered, wishing he could sink into the walls. "I- I'm sorry! ...Perry said not to hurt me."

She didn't say a thing, never taking her eyes off him as she approached closer.

_A demoness! It's a demoness!_ his mind cried in fear, his body starting to shiver and sweat.

She lifted the weapon and pointed it at his throat.

"...You're going to kill a kid?" he squeaked, and then started crying. "I bet- I bet that Perry's not even your real sister! You probably kidnapped her and wants to cook her for dinner! Cannibal! Jerk! Jackass!" He soon realized that shouting insults wouldn't help. "...NII-SANS! BOSS! KILLER-SAN! HIROKI! SAVE ME! THERE'S AN OGRESS AND SHE'S... SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

"My name is Arria," she formally introduced herself, ignoring everything he'd said. "And the name of this sword is Alejandro. Goodbye, kid. Your life has been a short one." She lifted it away, and then aimed at his neck again with a full-force swing.

He wailed, deciding that there was nothing else he could do.

_CLANK!_ Another sword suddenly flew out of nowhere and knocked hers out of her hand, shocking the two of them. The boy stopped his tears immediately and his head spun towards the origin of the projectile, seeing just in time that a flash of blue leaped in front of the entrance, holding the flying sword's twin.

"...Sloth?"

* * *

There was a commotion when Killer, Kidd, and Ren arrived back on the ship. Hiroki, despite the doctor's order, had gotten out of bed and dressed himself in a new set of clothes, claiming that he had decided to follow Sloth. Mustang seized this chance as an excuse to help, saying that he was going to go with him to look for Chuckie, which resulted in the continuation of Chevy's and his last argument, which set off another fire altogether.

"I will not do anything without your permission, that is certain," the shipwright assured Mustang. "But I agree that your bother has your best interest in mind when he asked me to make your a prosthesis. I will wait for you to reconsider. However, now isn't the time-"

"Woof!"

"Oi! We're back!" Kidd hollered, storming into the kitchen where the three were arguing, and headed for the fridge.

"Sencho," Hiroki said, getting to the point without pausing as his captain grabbed the first thing he saw- an apple-, plopped himself on the nearest chair, and began munching. Ren took the opportunity to take her tray of cookies from the bottom shelf of the fridge and have a snack while Killer settled what he'd bought on the table. Zinc stood by his leader's side. "Sloth-san is gone." Kidd stopped his chewing, sitting up in alert.

"What's the big deal if he's gone?" Killer asked, sensing something off by this point. A radical possibility hit him, and his inside tightened with panic. "Gone as in a short trip around the island, or gone as in something happened and he left the crew?"

"Gone as in 'He was acting weird'," Kidd said.

His first mate frowned beneath the mask. "...'Weird?' Explain."

"The whole reason that fight start," he began, resuming eating his apple at the same time. "Was because this strange-looking old hag sudden went berserk inside the bar-" "'Weird old hag'?" "-and started killing everyone. She was screaming about some 'Perry'-person. Then Sloth attacked her, which is how Hiroki got wounded." Killer glanced at the shipwright, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "I interfered, and she got away. Then the marines had us surrounded so I decided to send him back by using Hiroki's wounds as an excuse- he looked as if he wanted to go after the hag, like he knew her from somewhere. I was going to come back and question him afterwards."

The kitchen flew open once again before anyone could speak, and Camry stood back by the doorway arms full of groceries with a puzzled look as to why everyone was in his kitchen at the same time.

Well, almost everyone.

"Where's Chuckie?" was the first thing out of his mouth, knowing that the youngest had followed the captain out.

"Wandered off," Hiroki replied. "We think."

"You '_think_'?" he echoed, then shook his head as he put down his things as well. "Look here, I got some news. The marines seem like they are on the move, which is why I came back early just now. The marine captain... I recognized his rank by his uniform... He looked extremely scared about something. They were doing a lot of bar raids where I was shopping. Unless... Is that's something that happens often on marine based islands? Maybe I was just imagining things, but the marines all look tensed.

"Luckily, they took my as a civilian, so I headed back here before they can suspect otherwise."

"'Raiding bars'?" Hiroki said with a frown. "Of course, it's unusual. Marines aren't suppose to act like this. The World Government does have laws against intrusions of private establishments without issued warrants or a presented figure of authority with that given power- we're talking about Vice Admirals and up. And I know for a fact that most marine captains are cocky bastards unless they're around a higher ranked officers... And sometimes, they're cocky bastards even then."

Killer shifted his head.

"It was the opposite. They actually ignored me," he inputted, recalling that fearful look that young soldier had given him earlier when he walked in town. "And I can tell that some of them recognizes me as a wanted pirate, but they didn't to anything."

Kidd promptly finished the apple and tossed the core in the trash.

"Let's go after Sloth and beat an explanation out of him!" he declared, much to the confusion of the rest of his nakamas. "Don't asked me how, but I know he has something to do with this!"

He was only half right.

"Oi, so we don't know where Chuckie is?" Camry asked, going back to the subject of his youngest brother as his crew mates scrambled for weapons to get ready for the take off.

"Yeah, we'll find Shrimp somewhere along the way," Kidd grumbled, kicking the kitchen door open- "OPEN THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, BOSS!" - and taking off. "Hurry up!" Zinc obeyed his command, and hurried out like the wind.

"I'll go too!" Mustang decided, snatching up a couple of pistols and rows of bullets.

"Aniki, stay on the ship!" Chevy pleaded, setting up traps outside for security while instructing Ren what to do if the marines find their ship.

"No way! You can't make me!" And off he went without waiting for a reply. His younger brothers immediately chased after him, and Killer and Hiroki soon followed closed behind, one trying to catch up with the captain, and the other concentrating on finding Sloth.

* * *

Chuckie, taking advantage of the distraction, ran for his life and dodged behind the doctor, thanking the heaven in his head that the rescue came just in time. He peeked out from underneath Sloth's tall stature at the woman, then peered up at the zombie-like man, then looked forward again, then looked up, getting more and more confused each time.

Arria's initial expression had been one of total astonishment, which quickly melted into a knowing sneer the more she looked onto the witch doctor in front of her. Her grip on her sword had tightened.

Sloth's face was that of pure rage.

_They know each other?_

"I thought you had died," the woman first spoke up, her tone haughty and taunting and her head held high as she glared. "'Hell Breather' of Marc D. Ante's crew, were you? I thought that I was seeing things before, but the Sloth still manages to live for so long. You live up to everything I've heard about you. Truly impressive."

_Wait, but that won't make sense_, Chuckie went on to correct himself, trying to piece the puzzle together. _Hadn't Sloth and his former crew been in hiding for over twenty years when the Pirate King died? How old is she? How could they have met before?_

"You're a Midevian woman," the doctor growled. "_Who_ are you? And why do you have that sword?"

"Midevian? No," she said. "I'm not." A smirk spread across her face. "I'm surprised that you don't know me. Do you hate that country to the point where you're actually blocking out all outside information regarding it? And to think that I was worried that you'd expose me back there. I worried for nothing."

_So... They don't know each other? I'm confused. What country? And what about that sword?_

"Are you looking for death? Revenge?" she went on nonchalantly, glancing down at Chuckie. "Is that boy with you? He told me that he's the son of farmers and fishermen. Hmph, don't tell me that you've degraded yourself to that point."

"I'm a pirate," Sloth answered darkly. The venom dripping from his voice made the boy shiver.

"Sloth, she's got a little girl in there," Chuckie, remembering that Perry was still inside, announced her presence in hope that the doctor would save the girl as well. "I don't know who this lady is either, but she told me that her name is-"

_BOOM! WHAM! _ Something flew through the air and crashed into the mountain just beside the cave entrance, cutting Chuckie off. The three flinched in alarm as a marine's body quivered in the dent he made, only to be buried when more of his fellow marines' bodies hit that exact same spot.

Sloth spun around to see a giant metal arm looming, and an hoard of navy soldiers racing towards him. A blur of black ran amongst them, striking bloodless death left and right without pattern or warning, until Hiroki came to a complete stop, seeing the zombie-like man. Boomerangs cut through the air, knocking a good deal of the enemies out. Soon, Camry arrived.

"OI! HE'S HERE!" the cook screamed. "AND CHUCKIE'S WITH HIM!"

"Nii-san!" the boy shouted happily.

"The marines are following us up here," Hiroki observed as the captain made his grand entrance with a loud explosion in the form of a bomb, and Killer came dicing anyone who got in his way.

The rest of the crew arrived soon enough, and the whole place was surrounded in a semi-circle of marines.

"Boss," Mustang grumbled, scanning the number of men that had them encircled. "This is your fault again, isn't it?"

"Shut up, pedo! How the hell should I know that they were going get back at me for killing them back at the bar?" Kidd scoffed, glaring dagger at them. "It's all Sloth's fault anyway!"

Rather than focusing on the marines, Hiroki found his eyes instantly drawn to the lavender-headed woman who backing off into the cave slowly trying not to catch any attention with her movements, and he noticed two things right off the bat. One, half of the marines were staring at her already, some were talking into Den Den Mushi in suspicious whispers. And two, he'd definitely seen her somewhere, but he couldn't for the life of him remember where.

_So she the one causing the abnormality?_

A bounty poster, it must have been from a bounty poster. He browsed through his mind for all the female criminals he knew.

"Oi..." Killer muttered to him. "That woman..."

"You know who she is?" he said back. "I'm having a hard time remembering."

"She's got the same sword as that old hag," Kidd pointed out.

The first mate didn't answer, a grim air hanging around his being as he stepped forward in a threatening manner, making the marines back off slightly. "Yeah, I remember her. You'll remember too soon enough," he said to the shipwright. "Keep an eye on her."

* * *

The amount of marines' eyes on Arria made her blood run cold. It was mortifying- by standing here in the open, she had just unveiled herself and Perry. How did they found her? Had she been too rash? Had she not been careful enough? Did that Sloth expose her? ...No, it was these pirates. Her mood darkened with hate. The marines had followed _them_ up to her hideout, endangering _her_ and her Perry.

She backed off slowly.

But why were they talking into their Den Den Mushi, all looking at her, like they had been on guard for her? She gasped. _Don't tell me that one of _them _is here?_

She broke into a run into the cave.

"Get that woman!"

"Perry!" she shouted for the girl, rushing to her side and shaking her from her sleep. "Perry wake up now. We got to go."

The child sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Are we in trouble?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yes, honey," Arria replied, picking her up as sounds of a battle went on outside. Perry wrapped her arms and legs around the older female as the cloak were thrown around them. "Hold on to me. We're going to run, so don't let go."

Kidd, on the other hand, was royally pissed that the damn marines had the audacity to chase him all the way to this mountain and then_ ignoring_ him like this. His two false limbs grew even more massive, and shot out and thrashed their formation to show his disapproval, unknowingly buying more time for the woman-who-was-unmistakably-_not_-an-old-hag.

"Eat this, you bastards!" he snarled, his Devil Fruit power sending bullets and bombs flying backwards.

Already ahead of him and chasing after Arria, Sloth had abandoned the battlefield without a care.

"Hiroki!" Killer called as the shipwright finished off another soldier. "Go after him!"

The other man nodded. "Got it."

It all happened very quickly. The woman and the girl were racing deeper into the cave, knowing that the tunnel would lead them to another end where they could escaped to safety. In a matter of minutes, Sloth's swift running had gained ground, getting closer and closer to them with each passing minute. Not far behind, Hiroki, by Killer's command, had joined this chase, curious as to where this was all leading to as well.

The fight on the initial end had been pushed into the cave already, the ground drenched red and covered with dead and living bodies.

The brothers had tried to harm as little people as they could, fighting on defense mode. Kidd, Killer and Zinc, however, killed mercilessly. It wasn't long before Camry was actually starting to block some of their attacks on the ground that those soldiers were only doing their jobs, and the pirates realized that fighting like this wasn't going to help their interests at all.

And so, they entered the chase as well. The marines, numbers limited by death and knowing that they couldn't win, didn't go after them.

Arria would've gotten away.

Near the other end, she could see that the sun was setting and the exit was clear for her to go. From her years of running from bounty hunters, running from marines, and running from people in general, she had kept a well distance between her and Sloth, and if she could get out of here she could lose her chasers. Once she could accomplish that, she would rob a small ship, someone's Log Pose- preferably an Eternal Pose if she could get her hands on one-, and sail away from this place. With the simple plan in mind, she hugged tighter the little girl clinging to her.

As long as Perry was safe, nothing else mattered.

Her hope was short-lived.

The ball of glowing heat dropped like a bomb right in front of the exit way, the familiar burning suffocating her as it sizzled on the ground. Her feet screeched to a stop, her left hand clasped over her lower face in terror at the sight.

"Arria-san, are you all right?" Perry whispered. "Why aren't you running?"

Lava was flowing on the ground.

Behind her, Sloth's presence rooted itself. At first he was puzzled by her action, but he then realized, too, why she ceased.

_Lava?_ the doctor thought, eyes widening, backing off.

From the pool of molten liquid, the figure of a giant man rose, shaping a capped head, a large marine coat, gloved hands, stern eyes... Hiroki caught up to Sloth in the middle of the formation, paralyzed by the sight as the face started to emerge. _No way..._

"What the hell's going on?" Kidd growled from behind, the rest of the crew halting behind him. "Huh? What's that thing?"

Seeing no way out, Arria redrew her sword and swung, the phantom of the blade producing feathers as she leaped and charged ahead, trying to get past the being. Sloth jumped after her and grabbed her, pulling her back just as a ball of lava missed and splattered on the wall, deforming the rocks there. The feathers landed in the lava pool, sizzled as they burned, and disappeared. At the same moment, a small army of marines soldiers had caught up, and once more surrounded them from the outside.

"Don't be reckless!" the doctor growled, earning a stupefied look from her.

"Arria-san, who is he?" the albino child in her hold questioned. "You're shaking. Are we still in trouble?"

"Eight years of hide-and-seek is over, Blood Thief. You cannot run from Justice," a deep voice of a man rang out, from the nearly finished form. "Hand over the sword and that child. You're meant for death the moment you went up against the World Government."

The atmosphere tensed to the point where it was smothering.

"...Akainu?" Kidd heard his first mate whisper.

_Akainu?_ The redhead's repeated that title in thought, and instantly his mind flashed back to the many times where he was made to memorize names of big shots within the World Government. "The Red Dog? Isn't he one of the three admirals?" He looked back at the marine. "Why the fuck is he here?"


	62. Secret Behind a Sin

******Author's Note:** Thanks to _Kiku90, Savage Valentine,_ and _Hyouton Inuki_ for reviewing! Ha, everyone hates Akainu. XD

Vote the poll on my profile. I am very undecided and am in great need of your input. The poll will close at the update of the next Inter Arc.

I'll emphasize on Sloth's character in AN next chapter.

* * *

The very next thing that happened was Sloth dropping the woman back on the ground. She landed, tumbling a bit in the process, but successfully balanced on her feet. Her frantic eyes considered her situation; blocked by marines in the front, blocked by pirates in the back, and surrounded by unmovable cave walls on either side of her. Running was hardly an option. Buried against her, the little girl was quiet.

"Perry," she whispered, nudging the child. "Go to sleep."

Perry stirred against her touch, and she could feel the small head nodding in response to her order. Moments later glancing down, those red eyes were already closed, and the breathing was steady.

Akainu, now that he had eyes, stared with utter disbelief at the Kidd pirates' doctor.

"The 'Hell Breather'?" he muttered out loud, as if he had to say the name in order to make sure that the sight was real.

"An admiral already?" Sloth said, the tiniest hint of sarcasm dripping from his voice. "A momentous feat, considering that the last time you encountered with my former crew twenty seven years ago, you were but a nameless small time commodore, Sakazuki. I see that your Devil Fruit gave you quite a boost through the ranks, did it not?"

With that stinging insult, the disbelief vanished to be replaced by the usual stern face. The dark, shadowed eyes looked beyond the zombie-like man towards Kidd, who met his gaze with defiant arrogance and lips pulled back baring teeth. A "hmph" escaped from his lips as he reverted back to Sloth. "Your former crew mates were world-class scoundrels, and you more worthless than that of an animal," Akainu said coldly. "I'll personally make sure that your current crew will be crushed before they can even touch that level!"

_Whoosh! Clank!_ Kidd's regathering weapon-limbs swung together and clashed with the admiral in the center of the intersection, the attack meaning to crush the marine. It only resulted an angry hiss from the pirate captain, as the Logia user had well prepared for this, and had melted back into Lava form. The metals, too, melted by the heat.

"B-Boss, what are you doing!" Mustang gasped, aghast.

Not caring, Kidd glared and crushed harder.

"It's not going to work. He's only destroying your arm," Killer said, urging him to stop.

"Feh, so what? Let him! It's not doing me any harm! " the redhead spat, sneering and running up front, shoving Arria aside rudely. "Oi! Listen up, Red Dog! Who the hell gave you permission to act so fucking high and mighty at my crew mate in front of me? That bastard's _my_ doctor, he belongs to _my_ crew! I'm the captain! The only person who can talk to him that way is _me_!" "- Kidd, shut your big mouth! You don't understand who you're dealing with here!" "- So if you have a problem with him, then say it to my face, you fucking government ass-kisser!"

Everyone's eyeballs were well popping out of their sockets by this point.

"What an idiot," Arria mocked out loud, saying what was on everybody's mind.

Kidd turned around the glared at her. "And what have you been doing, woman?" Behind him the lava body bubbled as his head was away, the left side forming a giant molten fist. "Get the fuck out of here, you're in my way!" The fist shot for him. "_Funka!"_ "_Repel!_"

The splattering lava acted like the initiation for battle. Almost instance, Kidd reformed his limbs and charged at the admiral, his pride deafened himself to Killer's shouts. Arria didn't stay to insult him back, but took this chance and ran out, her sword drew to instant slaughter. Her efforts were backed as Sloth attacked as well, not to mention the amount of marines pouring into the cave, heading to deal with the pirates instead of facing her. She soon separated the further she ran, swaying more than half of the enemies with her.

But at least, Akainu did not follow. He was kept busy.

The pirates had immediately fled back several meters to avoid the flying lava droplets, some of which hit Kidd, who had not expected them at all, wincing in pain as his skin stung and burned. Yet, his headstrong did not falter even as Akainu, wrath fully provoked, hurled fist after fist at him.

"_Repel! Repel! Re-"_ _HAAAIIIIIIIIISSS!_ The lava boiled on the ground and spread as Kidd jumped, narrowly avoiding that third attack.

"Moron, don't fight him!" Killer shouted, angrily, panicking like hell inside as he fought off the navy soldiers along with the rest of the crew. "You can't repel him forever! He's too strong! He'll burn you to death!"

"_Re_-!"_ SPLAT!_

The wall liquefied as the pirate captain dodged again, leaping to another lava-less spot, which was getting harder and harder to find now. He huffed, slightly out of breath from the dodging and his racing heart and mind, which were trying to figure out just why was his defense working less and less. Akainu had a cold smile on his face as he looked at Kidd, though it didn't change the stern expression much.

"It seems that you're all barks and no bites, Rookie. You're a Magnet-man?" he asked, his hands on either side bubbling and smoking, readied for the next shot. "That's easy to combat for me. Simply changing the content ratios in my lava will render your Paramecia ability useless. My next attack will melt you a grave."

"Watch who you're talking to! I'm the future King of Pirates!" Kidd declared, somehow feeling the need to say it as he called for all the metallic objects around him, forming his own big fist. "I'll make you regret belittling me! Eat this!"

"Hmph." Akainu remained unimpressed. "_Funka!_" he called his own attack again, the lava hand engulfing the metallic, liquefying the whole mass right in front of Kidd's furious eyes. "Don't kid around, little tick. If I don't know who you are, then you're but an insignificant drop of water in this ocean!"

The rookie's face turned bright red. "MY NAME'S EUSTASS KIDD!" he screamed, gathering and sending another attack that only met with the same end as the last.

"Admiral Sakazuki!"

"Hm?" Akainu glanced at the running subordinate coming from his left, neglecting Kidd altogether.

"I apology for the interruption, sir! It's about the child you want us to capture!" the soldier said. "Is it the boy or the girl?"

"Take both," he answered.

"B-But sir, you only ordered to take one child before. We just want to make clear of which of them-"

"One is with a pirate crew, the other one with a top-class criminal who dared to go up against the World Government! Both are enemies of Justice! That is a good enough reason for my orders to change!" he snapped.

"Ye-Yes sir!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Kidd howled, mustering up whatever limited weapons still left and sending them one bundle after another at the Admiral, who merely stood there and let it all melt the moment they touched him.

Needless to say, even with the ineffective attacks, he was find the rookie more and more disdainful with each passing second, not that he didn't already find Kidd disdainful in the first place. This brat was obviously someone who needed to be taught a lesson- No, he didn't deserve even a lesson. Being a pirate- a wanted one, Akainu would suspect though he didn't bother to figure out who this rookie was- was enough to pronounce him dead. All that defied the World Government shall meet the same fate. He will execute this nuisance right then and there, then capture Hell Breather- the only scum out of all of them worthy of questioning- and eliminate the rest of this crew.

"_Daifunka!_" he shouted, shooting out a massive fist towards Kidd. The lava illuminated the cave unlike all previous ones, lighting up Kidd's amber eyes, showing how close range it was. The pirate's inside clenched with horror as he attempted to form a shield with his power again. There were hardly any resources left.

It couldn't miss, too large, couldn't get away in time-

"BARBARIAN!" was all Zinc managed to scream before the fist consumed him, shocking just about everyone at the scene.

"..." said an ashen-white Kidd before, "OI, YOU STUPID-" And the Spartian leaped out through of the lava completely unharmed and swung his trident, splitting the surprised Akainu in half before the captain could even finish his sentence.

He turned around, and saluted his vertical salute as cooling rocks crumbled from his being. "I apologize, for I committed a mistake due to my delay, my Fuhrer."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NOT DEAD?" Kidd barked. "AND DON'T CALL ME 'FUHRER'! KILLER, HIROKI! WHY IS THIS PROBLEM NOT TAKEN CARE OF?" His first and second mates purposely ignored him.

"Yes, my Fuhrer, for you are always right. I shall also deal with this 'Zakainu'-barbarian swiftly. Have no fear!"

"SHUT UP! I DON'T FEAR ANYTHING!"

But Zinc was already gone.

Akainu barely had time to regenerate when the trident came for him again, the Haki from the Spartian blasting him apart, fighting him further out and away from Kidd. It took a while before he was able to gather himself up, only to be slammed upon once more and punched in the gut. His lava-self rammed against the equally large fighter, sending Zinc back, who, even though touched by the hot molten liquid, did not flinch or burn.

"What are you?" the marine asked in perplexity, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I am Cadet Zinc!" came the answer as the other charged again at shocking speed. The weapon clashed with Akainu's lava-arm, their pair of twin stern eyes glaring into one another's. "Warrior of Sparts! Loyal server of my Fuhrer!

The admiral's eyes flew wide.

"_Sparts_?" _How?_

He managed a two-second glance at Kidd before the Spartian attacked, bringing him down on his behind by punching through his chest. _WHAM!_ The ground beneath shattered, and before he could react again, another punch came followed by a kick. He countered by turning all lava, the liquid splattering up into Zinc's face as his kick failed. The admiral reappeared behind him.

"_Daifunka!_" Akainu returned with his own punch, swallowing Zinc whole. "_Ball!_" He crushed his hands into a fist, and threw the Spartian roughly on the ground, the lava splashing all over. Not wasting a moment, the Logia user send fist after fist, drowning the pirate in a lake of lava goo.

_Whoosh! Ram! Ram!_ Blades and rifles suddenly rained down upon him. tearing him apart piece by piece, distracting him for the constant attacks.

"OI, ZINC! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" the pirate captain screamed.

Akainu let out a soft growl, narrowing his eyes. "Don't think you can get away, pi-" The Spartian leaped from the lava pool, swung a leg and kicked him in the head, cutting him off.

"Let's go!" Killer commanded, pushing the last of the marine soldiers away.

"But I'm not done with-" Kidd tried to say, glaring at the admiral.

"I said, 'Let's _go_!'"

For a second, it almost seemed like Kidd would explode into a fit, but the redhead controlled himself and ran in front grudgingly, leading the escape.

"Chuckie!" Camry shouted, not following even as Akainu began coming after them. The two other brothers stopped, also realizing the missing presence of the youngest Chuck. "Damn it, CHUCKIE!"

"They took him," Chevy said, vaguely remembered that the boy was right beside him at one point, only to have vanished when he took his eyes off and looked back down. "The marines-"

"_Daifunka!_" Akainu bellowed from behind, a lava fist flying.

Kidd immediately conjured up a shield, blocking it for a few seconds before the melting started. "Don't bother with him now! We'll figure it out later!"

* * *

Arria was outnumbered. It would've been no big deal; she was always outnumbered- she couldn't remember the last time that she had fought someone one on one. But this time, the ratio wasn't looking in her favor at all. There must have been over a hundred men here. At the very least, Akainu wasn't here, otherwise, this might as well be her death sentence.

"Formation!" one of them- must be a higher-ranked commander- shouted. "Ready to shoot her down!"

She sneered and gripped the hilt her sword tightly as the rifles and guns pointed. Alejandro in her left hand rapidly formed feather, in no time had covered himself, and slowly, but gaining speed, let his feathers grew over her and Perry as well.

"What the hell's up with her sword?"

"Who cares! She's probably one of those Devil Fruit users! Someone prepare the sea-stone nets!"

"FIRE!"

_Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!_ Came the rapid rounds of bullets, all either missing or bouncing off the soft shield. The non-effectiveness caused much shock and fear from those men, who panicked, wondering why wasn't she hit. She checked one last time to make sure that Perry was still asleep,and smirked deliriously when she saw that the girl was was. Alejandro flexed in her grip, telling her that he was ready for blood.

Still covered in feathers, she lunged for it.

Stomachs sliced opened, heads rolled, and blood drenched her white coat red even as the firing continued to go on in vain. It was steady killing, aiming for one at a time.

"HIYAAAAH!" _WHAM! _A marine swinging an ax split the ground beneath her as she jumped out of the way just in time. She spun around, meeting the next attempt dead on and pushed him back, kicking him hard in the crotch in the process. A wail of pain erupted from his throat as he reeled backwards, dropping his weapon and clutching his abused manhood.

"Oi, woman! That's not fighting fair!" someone barked at her.

Arria snorted and swiped at the person, cutting his side apart. "Give me a break, prissy!" she taunted. "He's lucky that I didn't _cut_ them off."

_Bam! Bam! Bam!_ The bullets flew again. She turned and unleashed blade-like feathers, which shot through the air and struck them. At the same time unsuspected to her senses, someone smashed down on her back and another kicked her away. Like lightning a third being reached out and ripped Perry away from her arm, disappearing as soon as he'd come before she could react. Instantaneously, they rounded up on her again, showing no mercy now that they'd gotten the first of their objective.

"Perry!" she shouted, not paying heed to them at all as she raced without direction trying to find the kidnapper, having been put in sudden terror. Her defense worn off in her panic. "Perry, wake up! Scream so I know where you are!"

No answer.

Her teeth bared and clenched as they snickered around her. _These bastards!_

"Don't bother," one of the man said, chuckling. "You'll never see her again! It's best for her not to be you, anyway! Savage women like you are the reason why children can't sleep at night!"

Her rage flared, her lips pursed and hands clenched by her sides.

"I don't need to hear that from a dog of the damned World Government!" she howled, slicing him apart, reached out, plunged her right hand into him, and ripped his heart out from his chest. His blood splattered. Alejandro's feathers regenerated. "Savage? I'll show you savage!"

"Get her! She's going insane- AAAAAAGH!"

_Slice! Slice! Slice!_ Red danced in the air amid her rampage. The bullets once more flew in vain, deflected by her white coat. Their agony screams were like a non-stop chorus.

"Give her back!" she snarled. _Slice!_

"I don't think we can capture her! Retreat!" someone called. "Retreat! Report back to the admiral! Retreat!"

The weakened regiment fled at once, running down the mountains as the madwoman chased them, killing as many as she could get her hands on. The town came into view, and even as out of her mind as she was, she stopped and watched, panting as her enemies ran in front of her, frustrated and enraged.

Distress hit like a storm, and her breathing stopped short.

Perry, they still had Perry! This was the first time she had let this happen.

She had been too careless, too blind.

_I should've just ran! _She stabbed her bloody sword into the ground, cursing as her body shook. _What are they going to do to her? Kill her? Of course! Of course, they'll kill her! Arria, you're a fool! Go after them! Raid the marine's base! Kill them all! Get her back and run!_

Her reasoning would not allow that. Going after the base wouldn't accomplish anything, not with Akainu on this island. Her minds darkened with madness, old hatred surged, and her left arm twitched in response.

But what could she do?

No, she couldn't do anything.

_But..._ Her mind calmed the more she thought, a light flickered in her silver eyes as an idea came, and she looked back towards the mountain where the cave was. She plucked her sword out from the rocks where she'd stabbed it, cleaned the blood off and sheathed it.

A cold, determined smirk curved her lips.

* * *

"Mmmpph! Mmhmph! Mmmmmmmmmmmhmmmph!" the"bundle" inside the rice sack cried and flopped around as the marine chore boy attempted to set it down calmly inside the jail cell.

The poor fellow, scared by whatever animal or creature inside, dumped the sack on the ground carelessly and stood with shaking knees, afraid to open the sack as the thing inside continued to struggle against its confinement. Was it a midget? It felt awfully small.

The door to the jail house suddenly opened, making the young teen jump. The chore boy immediately leaped to saluting stand as a regular soldier walked past him carrying a little girl into that same cell. She was as carelessly tossed on the ground as he had did the sack, and without a glance back, the soldier left, leaving the chore boy stunned at the way his superior had just treated an innocent girl.

"He- He didn't have to be so rough!" he gasped in a hush, staring at the closed door before rushing over to the cell to make sure she was okay. He stopped for a moment to stare at how incredibly white she was before realizing that she was sound asleep. "Phew..." He worked on untying the sack, wondering what was in there.

Chuckie's afro peaking out first made him think that the the boy was a giant mushroom for a second.

"Mmmmph! Mmmph, mmmph!" the child tried to cry out as the rest of him was revealed, muffled by the cloth tied around his mouth.

"It's not a mushroom!" the marine observed with popped eyes, earning an irritated look from him.

"Mmmmph!"

"I- I'm sorry that I just dumped you on the ground, kid," the chore boy apologized. "I honestly thought that you were some mysterious creature or a midget dwarf or something. I have no idea that you're a human."

A vein popped on Chuckie's forehead. "MMMMPH!"

"Here, I'll untie you," the chore boy said, loosening the rope and pulling off the cloth.

"-THE HELL MADE YOU THINK I'M A MIDGET!" Chuckie roared, offended to heart. "YOU SUCK!"

"S-Sorry! I said 'sorry' already! I just said it again too!"

The child hissed at him as he backed away and closed the cell door, at which point the reality dawned upon said child, who raced to the edge of the bar, gaping with disbelief. "Wait a minute! Why am I locked up? Is... Is this a marine jail? ...WHAT DID I DO WRONG? Let me out!"

"Sorry, kid," the older boy said, looking at him sadly. "No can do. They told me to carry you here. At least you have some company." He pointed to Perry, who was still sleeping, before brightening up and said in an optimistic voice, "Well, I got toilets to scrub and floors to clean, and since Admiral Sakazuki's going to stay here for a couple more days, the other chore boys and I have to work extra hard so we make Mt. Hera's base look good. Can't afford to embarrass ourselves right now. Maybe I'll come back and visit you later. My name's Keiji. See ya!"

"Hold it, you never told me what I'm doing time for! I'm inno-"

The door slammed closed.

"...You jerk!"

* * *

On the deck of _Santa Maria_, Kidd had seated himself lazily on the floor. Killer was leaning against the main mast with crossed arms, having not moved in the last ten minutes. Hiroki, leaning against the rail, had tucked his arms inside his sleeves. Chevy was down on the ground, quietly fiddling with his trapping supplies. Zinc stood by the captain's side while Sloth stood in an isolated corner, a shadow covering his eyes. Camry was pacing back and forth in front of all of them, whereas his older brother had given up minutes ago and was now resting. Ren watched this all with interest, slightly confused about the lack of Chuckie's presence.

The ship had been moved to a safer spot. No doubt that they were high on the marines' hunting list by then.

"What could they do to him? He's just a kid," the cook kept muttering under his breath. "They won't harm a kid, but they won't give him back to us either knowing that they're pirates..." This was part of what he had always feared when first joining this crew.

"Calm down," the captain drawled. "Aren't you the one who preaches that marines are such great people?"

"What are you talking about? I don't preach that," Camry defended. "I simply feel that they have better a stand at moral since they're the civilians' protectors!"

"If they have great morals then they won't harm the shrimp, don't worry!" Kidd pointed out. "We just need to break into the base and steal him back, that's all."

"It's not going to be that easy!" Camry said, shaking his head. "I don't think you're understanding me, Boss! You're a wanted man; my brothers and I, we're not, and I prefer to keep ourselves anonymous. What I'm worrying about isn't only breaking in, but that Chuckie's name is going to be on their record. If we're not careful enough with the rescue, our names are going to be on there as well. We don't want that reaching our home and make it so we can't even go back to visit someday. We have friends there! Our parents' graves are there!"

"Pirating's great and all, but someday, we have to visit home, Boss," Mustang informed. "And we plan on it."

"We just don't want bounties on our heads," Chevy translated, looking as if he wanted to say more, but closed his mouth and went back arranging equipment again.

Silence fell over. Kidd, for once, seemed to be in deep thought.

"We still need to get Chuckie-kun back," Hiroki said. "Bounties or not."

"Can a kid his age even _get_ a bounty?" Kidd asked with a scowl.

"Depends on what the specific child has done," the shipwright answered. "Nico Robin, the Demon of Ohara who had sunk six marines ship at age eight twenty years ago, received a seventy-nine million bounty. But someone like her is considered a huge threat to the Government. I'd say Chuckie getting a bounty is highly unlikely unless he does something extremely rash while as their captive." He then gave each of the brothers looks. "You three are more likely to get bounties breaking into there than him trapped there. If you would like to avoid that, I suggest you leave it to-"

"We can't even rescue our own little brother _ourselves_?" Camry hissed.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you are recognized-" He abruptly stopped, and glanced behind him.

Confused by the sudden cut off, the cook decided to try furthering his argument. "I-"

"Camry," Killer interrupted. "Someone's coming."

Ren slithered over to the rail, stuck her head between an opening, and peered down as Hiroki narrowed his lifeless eyes above her. Behind them, Kidd got up, a hand on one of his daggers, and Killer took out his temporary sword. Sloth's dark eyes snapped wide with flaring hatred, still in his own corner.

An ancient hunchback lady wobbled down the rocky path holding a thickly bandaged staff.

"Out of everything that bitch could've picked, she chose an old hag again?" Kidd muttered, scowling down. "What the hell does she want from us?"

"Hehehe..." the voice of the old lady croaked as she stopped and lifted up her hooded head. "A wonderful ship. Delightful... Shall I aboard it, and make acquaintances with my new...benefactors..."

She jumped high and landed on Maria's upper deck only to instantly be greeted with weapons all pointed in her direction.

"Now, now... Youngsters, have some respect for feeble old me," she rasped with obvious mockery in her voice. "Put them away. I'm here to talk, not fight."

"We'll talk face to face, 'Blood Thief'," Killer said in a glacial tone. "Take off your disguise first."

There was a moment of hesitation until she eventually stood straight and took off the bag which formed the fake hump, pulling off the concealing hood to reveal a mostly bandaged head. Kidd frowned, wondering if it was another one of her silly get-ups.

"The sword too," the first mate commanded, nodding towards to the 'staff.' An even longer pause happened before she was willing to unwrap it.

Arria took a good minute to consider her surrounding carefully before turning back to the pirates. Her hard silver eyes, being the only things exposed on her face, narrowed with amusement.

"I see that you've all survived Akainu," she said. "Wonderful... However, where's that little boy? Everyone's here but him."

"Where my brother is is none of your business," Camry snapped, starting at her with distrust.

"So he's your brother, is he? That makes him part of this pirate crew, doesn't it?" she said, smiling as her voice went soft. "I wonder if the marines took him too." The woman looked at him directly in the eyes. "They must have, didn't they?"

"What are you trying to get at?" he asked, not liking the way she was talking to him at all.

Before she could reply, Hiroki stepped in, took hold of the cook by the arm, and gently tugged him back, giving him a Don't-Continue-With-Her look. As if on cue, Killer pushed himself off the mast, and Kidd stepped up, the two men standing in front as she attempted stare them down as well with her unfaltering gaze. However, it wasn't hard to tell by her sudden stillness and the hand set on her sword's hilt that the two made her edgy, whereas talking to Camry, she retained a composed, confident, haughty attitude.

"'Blood Thief' Arria," Killer began as if he was reciting from a textbook. "You were the bastard daughter of 'King Slayer' Lance, a knight from the most renowned kingdom on Red Line who brutally slaughtered his own king, and the former wife of that king, Queen Genova, who eloped with the lover who'd murdered her husband. Eight years later, they were both killed on Grand Line for piracy."

If she was stilled before, then she couldn't have been breathing when the man took the short pause. Not a fiber in her being moved.

"About eight years ago, a seventeen year old female broke into the sacred land of Mariejois, thought to be taking revenge for her parents' death, stole from the World Government a secret weapon in development. For that crime, you were issued a bounty of one hundred and twenty million, and became a top priority of the naval force. They have been hunting you ever since." He nodded down. "That weapon they publicly identified later is same sword you hold in your hand."

She was shaking, breathing deeply from rage. Kidd, too, looked at the sword in her hand like everyone else. Unlike the rest of them, her bounty amount stuck in his head, and puerile jealousy stirred within at just how high it was compared to his- it was a whole fifty million beri higher! _For breaking into Mariejois and stealing some sword? Tch!_

"Lies!"

They all flinched including her, whose shivers calmed as everyone averted from her to Sloth.

At once she smirked behind the bandages as the creature walked towards them, his anger well-displayed in his eyes, looking straight at her.

"Sloth-san," Hiroki called. "What are you-"

"No wonder you have that sword!" he snarled at her before glancing at the masked man. "What they said was all a bunch of lies! I can recognize that sword anywhere! That sword, Alejandro, isn't any secret weapon in development; it never belonged to the World Government!"

"I'm surprised to see you coming to my rescue, _Edvard Lundsten_," Arria hissed with equal venom in her sarcastic voice, lifting up her head. "I've heard all about you; you were that assimilation advocate who'd thought that your race would even have the chance of merging with human society, even going as far as adapting yourself a human name. So you now call yourself Sloth as the only Sloth left in the honor of your deceased tribe, do you? How funny!"

She had pushed all the right buttons.

"Sloth!" Kidd shouted.

The doctor didn't listen, too enraged. His twin swords swung for kill as did her single blade, both's weapons clashed. He pushed, mouth wide open to exhale flame to finish her off, only for their fight to be broken apart by Killer, who kicked all three swords up into the air and them apart from each other.

"Calm yourself!" the masked man ordered. "Why are you-"

"Calm myself?" Sloth spat. "She's the daughter of Lance, isn't she? She's the granddaughter of the same man who held that very sword thirty five years ago, leading an army of ten thousand men on horseback down into my tribe's valley and butchered my wife, my three children, my entire people! That sword has stains of their blood!" The sword, which had stuck into the floorboard, was clean, bloodless. Yet, his fury ceased to lessen.

The crew, on the other hand, could only watch and listen wordlessly. Kidd was staring straight at the doctor, an unreadable dark look on his face. '_Sloth' isn't his real name? _His amber eyes flashed. _He lied? Then what about her? _He looked to the bitch. _If he's telling the truth, then what's behind that sword-stealing story?_

Not far away, Killer was having the same thought.

It wasn't any surprise to him that the World Government pulled shit through its ass again to cover something up. What happened twenty years ago in Ohara was a perfect example, the Void Century was a perfect example, even the whole mafia fiasco in South Blue- at this, he glanced at Hiroki out the corner of his eyes- was a perfect example. Corruption and injustice were everywhere in that organization- he really couldn't imagine what worse they could do from what he'd already seen.

Blood Thief struck his curiosity. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that she must have done _something_ to wrong the World Government, other wise there wouldn't be a marine admiral after her. Perhaps she did possess a secret.

He wanted to know, and he planned to know. So, without consenting to Kidd, he stepped forward and initiated.

"Enough is enough," he said formally. "You came to us. Tell us your intentions or leave."

"I see at least one of you have some decent sense," she said with a sneer, earning a hostile growl from the captain. Killer held an arm out to stop him from doing anything rash, causing a confused look from the woman. "You're the first mate, 'Massacre Man'. If I'm negotiating, I want to talk to your captain."

"I am more than authorized to negotiate with you. You will speak or I'll force it out of you," he threatened. "Don't play mind games with me."

She took a deep breath and lifted her head.

"I suggest that you don't push me around either," she snapped.

"I said, 'Speak'," he shot back.

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Killer waited, his imperative aura sharpening with each passing moment.

"...Very well. As you know by now, your crew mate's little brother had been kidnapped by the marines," the woman said, finally giving in. "Well, so has my Perry. Normally, I would not bother with making deals with pirates, but, I think we both understand what situation we're in with Akainu on this island. I cannot beat him. I don't know how you escaped him, or defeated him, if you even did, but I could use your assistance if you will give me any. After all, we're both working towards the same objective. It would be beneficial if we don't work against each other, won't you say, 'Massacre Man'?"

"I don't trust her!" Kidd said.

Arria looked at him. "That's fine. You pirates are an untrustworthy lot yourself."

"You-"

"Kidd!" Killer said sharply.

"We will go our separate ways, of course," she said. "I will not damage more than what I need to."

"Fair enough," the masked man answered.

"What the fuck! I'm not working with this wench!" the redhead snarled. "Don't go making decisions on your own, you bastard! I'm the captain!"

"You can stay behind and guard the ship if you choose to, _Captain_," Killer addressed, slightly sick of his childishness. "Chuckie has to be save with or without her."

"And I'm going with you," Mustang huffed.

"No you're not, Aniki!" his younger brothers said at the same time.

Sloth looked even more outraged than Kidd having to cooperate with her; the masked man almost thought that he would attack her again. _I'll confront him about it after._

Arria disregarded the rest of the crew, still staring at Killer. "When will we start?"

"Now."

* * *

The large room was brightly lit. It had a long rectangular table with twenty one chairs going all around, a front with a large board for writing or presentation, and many arts on display, hanging on or placed against the walls.

The unnamed captain of the Marine base of Mt. Hera sat in one of the those seats, frozen, but sweating like hell.

"She got away," Akainu said beside him.

"Yes, I apologize for the incompetence of my men, Admiral-"

"No," he cut him off, narrowing his eyes. "There is a pirate crew on this island." His hand reached on the table and picked up Eustass 'Captain' Kidd's poster. "A seventy million beri rookie whose crew burned down the capital of Bleu, killed their prince... And now he has a Spartian and a former commander of the Hell Kaiser in his crew? He reeks of 'evil'!"

"If I may ask, Admiral Sakazuki," the captain spoke up. "You are here to capture 'Blood Thief' Arria. Yet, you instead ordered my men to also capture a child whom you claimed will be with her, and after today, they brought back two children. Why is that, Sir?"

"The girl is that child, the boy is a pirate from 'Captain' Kidd's crew," Akainu said. "Even though we failed to capture 'Blood Thief', there's no doubt in my mind that she will attempt to infiltrate this base. I planned a ship to take those two children from you jail cell to... proper care." The marine captain did not like the way he said 'proper care.' "With them as baits, both the pirate crew- assuming that they will come back for a mere child- and her will fall into our trap."

"And the children?"

He gave the other the same stern, cold look. "They will be 'taken care of' accordingly in the name of Justice. Ready your men, and prepare me a ship for Marineford."

"Yes sir."


	63. A Reason to Hang On

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl, Cloverskeet_, _Kiku90_ and_ Black Hyacinth_ for reviewing! Read the following if it interests you, or you can just skip down to the chapter, since it's not mandatory to know and is just written for the sake of you knowing extra information.

Now, about Sloth... I'll admit that I did not know much about his character in this story at all when I first introduced him, and it wasn't until the middle of last arc did bits and pieces finally come into their proper places. Sloth's age is figured out; from logical deduction, he is fifty eight years old presently. He was seventeen when he was made chief of his people, eighteen when he married his wife (this is due to tribal customs. He eventually came to care for her over time. Loved his children though. Around the same time of his marriage, he also began to push for assimilation), twenty-three when his people were murdered (A lot of racial and religious justifications were used by the Midevian king and his court, but the primary and hidden motive of this genocide was because of the discovery of gold mines. It's not just the Sloths; all nomadic tribes within areas of which there were gold were killed off), and twenty-nine when Ante forced him to join his former crew.

According to me (Ahahahaha!), Sloth's people were all of low intelligence except for him. Reasons remain unknown. Maybe it was one of those one-in-a-million thing... They could all breath fire too, except their fire was low in temperature in comparison to his, which was born naturally to him of above average temperature, achieved higher through excessive self-training, and can burn a normal human to ashes within seconds. Again, he was a strange exception to the rule. His human name, Edvard Lundsten, will only be used for one purpose in the future of this fic. For your information, it's Nordic...Correct me if I'm wrong, Scandinavians... I don't want to call him 'Edward' because there is already another 'Edward' in OP, fully named Edward Newgate, so I went with an alternative version. A thank goes out to Tosser.

What I've noticed is that within the OP world there are true racial differences, separating certain groups of humans, that can actually categorize said certain groups as what I refer to as _Homo sapiens_ sub-species, such as Apoo and the Long-Arm Tribe, the Long-Leg Tribe, and the people of the sky islands. So 'Eddie' in this fic is based off my theory that his people must have been one of those sub-species, because I really can't figure out what he is. Hence, the reason why I created the Sloths. The Spartians, due to their unnatural strength and even more unnatural endurance, can also be categorized as another sub-species.

A note on Akainu... I really think that Oda-sensei made a mistake when Akainu was called a "magma"-user. The main difference between magma and lava is their locations- one is below earth surface, the other above. By unleashing it, he is essentially producing lava because it's above earth surface, so shouldn't he be a lava-man? Or is there something else I'm missing here?

Enjoy this chapter! :)

And vote the poll on my profile dammit! ...Please?

* * *

The marine jail by now had become quite lively with the two new young convicts, or more specifically, Chuckie, who was getting quite rowdy with the rascals in other cells. Laughter rang as the boy exchanged talks and arguments with them. He learned that most of them were in jail for debts, some were local thieves, some murderers ready to be transferred to prisons, and quite a few pirates.

"Shut up! Stop making fun of me!"

Inside the children's cell, Perry blinked awake due to the loudness of the conversations, sat up, and withdrew in fetal position sitting. She glanced around her new environment for several minutes before her sight landed on Chuckie, who had his back facing her as he grumbled with complaints, staring beyond the bars. Nobody was paying attention to her. Because of her quietness, it wasn't until the boy got bored with talking and turned to look at her again, expecting to see her still sleeping, that he noticed the change.

"You're awake," he said, stating the obvious.

She did nothing but nod.

"Oi, kid! Come back and talk with us!"

"Don't feel like it, you assholes!" Chuckie barked back before reverting about to Perry. Snorts and giggles answered his snappish reply, and he ignored it all. Giving her an irritated look, he walked over and sat himself next to her, peering at her with suspicious eyes. "Oi! At least you can say something, you know. It's not like I'm going to bite you if you talk to me."

Perry blinked again and slowly turned her head away much to his annoyance.

"Ooh, so you're ignoring me on purpose!" he accused, glaring at her as his cheeks puffed up. "Fine! You're no fun anyway!"

"Where is this?" the girl finally asked, having looked around this place twice.

More giggling from the other inmates. "Sounds like a cute girl. Oi, brat, how old is she?"

"She's eight, you pedos!" Chuckie barked back, then straightened his posture and wiped the glare off his face. "We're inside the marine base in their jail... Except I don't know what I've done. I'm a pirate and all but-" Snorts. "Everyone! He said he's a pirate. Hehehehe!" "SHUT UP! I AM A PIRATE! ...As I was saying, if the marines want to capture anyone, they could've tried to capture Boss or Killer-san or Hiroki instead since they're the ones with bounties..." He frowned. "Come to think of it, what are you in for?"

"How long have we been in here?" she asked again, brushing off his question.

"Uh... You've been sleeping for four hours or so, and I think I was in the sack for about half an hour, so around four and a half hours?" he calculated. "What are you in for?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But Arria-san will come and get me. I'll ask her why later."

By then, Chuckie was beyond peeved and confused. Sure, he was a kid like her, but he'd never clung on to his brothers like she had with her sister, assuming that it was their relationship. The constant mentions of "Arria-san" was getting on his nerves. Besides, why an old hag? It would've made sense if there was something physically wrong with her and she'd wanted to hide it with a disguise, but he saw no deformation- she was quite beautiful. And why did the woman tried to kill him? Why the marine admiral? Were they outlaws in running?

His best guess would have to be that that "Arria"-lady was a criminal, and her and Perry were hiding from the marines. He wondered what they had done to piss the World Government off so much. From what he could understand, regular criminals normally did not have admirals after them.

"Oi, what did your sister do?" he inquired, nudging the Perry on the shoulder. She looked at him with puzzlement and he flashed her a reassuring smile. "It's okay, I'm a pirate so you can tell me."

"What sister?"

"'Arria-san', you dummy!"

There was a pause.

"...She's not my sister."

He was confused again. "Then, what is she to you?"

"She's 'Arria-san.'" Perry said straightforwardly.

"Yeah but... Where's your parents? How did you end up with her? Did she..." His eyes suddenly widened. "Did she kidnap you from them? ...She's one of_ those_ people, isn't she!"

A question mark popped above her head. "...One of what people?"

"Pedophiles!" Chuckie shouted, waving his arms, earning an even more puzzled look from her. "I knew it! She's a pedophile isn't she? She kidnapped you through your bedroom window, took you from your folks, and that's why the marines are after her, isn't it? I've heard all about those kinds of pedophiles from my Aniki; he looks like a pedophile but he actually isn't one, so you don't have to be afraid of him."

"What are you talking about? What's a pedophile?"

"Those people that like to touch kids in weird places... you know?" he explained helpfully. "Like your boobs."

"What are boobs?"

He pointed to her flat, eight-year old chest. "Well, you don't have any yet, but that's what pedophiles like to touch! My Aniki said so! The smaller they are, the more they like them!"

"Arria-san used touch me there when we take baths together," Perry confessed. "But now I clean myself."

"SO YOU MEAN THAT SHE LIKES THEM THAT YOUNG?" Chuckie gasped with horror. This was terrible. "DON'T WORRY, I WILL SAVE YOU FROM HER!"

She sweat-dropped. "You're very confusing. I don't understand what you're talking about."

* * *

Five minutes later, Chuckie had worked out the perfect plan. It was very simple, yet devilish. With Perry at his attention, he explained the strategy to her- exactly what he was going to do, exactly what her role was, and how they'll escape.

"First, do you know what the one thing about us kids that adults hate?" he questioned, and without waiting for her, he answered himself. "They hate it when we cry! So... Let me hear you cry."

"I'm not suppose to cry," she said. "Arria-san gets mad at me whenever I cry."

"Enough about your Arria-san! This is a matter of life and death! Just cry, dammit! And cry really loud 'cause that's what pisses them off!"

"Oi, kids! Shut up over there!" some irritated old man shouted. The children ignored him.

"I'm not suppose to cry," Perry repeated stubbornly.

He gave up. "Fine! I'll do the crying by myself! Now, you know how to give people the puppy eyes, right?"

"I... I really don't understand what you're talking about," she said, looking a little pressured and uneased. "What puppy eyes?"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Googly eyes! Sparkling eyes! The eyes you have on when you're trying to get things from adults! I thought every kid knows about puppy eyes!" he screamed with frustration. She leaned back, frightened by his harsh tone of voice. "What are you? _Stupid_?"

She stared at his angry face and lowered her head with shame, her breaths coming out fast and her bottom lip starting to tremble. Instantly, Chuckie felt like a jerk. Camry had always told him two things, and one of them was to never make girls cry. He was half way about to apologize when he realized that it was exactly what he needed. A smile grew on his face and he clapped his hands happily. "Great job! Don't stop crying! The louder the better, you understand?" He'll apologize later, he supposed.

Perry hiccuped as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm-" _Hic._ "I'm... Sorry!"

She wasn't crying loud enough.

Chuckie observed this with a finger to his lips, thinking hard. The other thing that Camry had always told him was not to pull on girls' hair, because not only would it be bullying, but it'd make them cry too.

He reached out, took a handful of of her white hair, and yanked _hard_.

She wailed as loud as a banshee on the top of her lungs. Wasting no time, he prepared himself by making his eyes water and balling his hands, and exploded into a tantrum, screaming, crying, kicking his legs and pounding his fists on the ground. By then, the jail were full of complaints from the other inmates, and in a matter of seconds, three marines holding rifles burst in.

"What the hell's going on?" the leading officer shouted, and everyone quieted down except for the two kids.

Perry was still crying because of the pain. Chuckie's ruckus escalated.

"Oi, kids!" the officer called, approaching closer. The skeptical look on his face obviously showed that he wasn't used to dealing with children. The boy saw this and grinned wickedly in his mind. "Stop crying and tell me what's wrong!

"WE HAVE TO PEE!" he howled, flopping his body like a fish, crocodile tears leaking from his eyes like no tomorrow. The marines watched him in fear. "I WANT MY BROTHERS! LET ME OUT! I'M INNOCENT! I HAVE TO PEE REALLY BADLY! NII-SANS, SAVE ME! I HAVE TO PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"ARRIA-SAAAAAN!" Perry, who by now seemed to have gotten the hang of it, cried as she bawled her eyes out. "I'M SCARED!"

"WE'RE SCARED!" Chuckie emphasized. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

"W- What should we do?" the marine behind the first asked.

"Baka! Calm them down and escort them to the toilets immediately!" the first ordered. "They're important prisoners of Admiral Sakazuki. If anything goes wrong, you'll be discharged without honor! Hurry up and open the door."

"Are you sure we should be letting them out?" the third one pointed out. "What if they try to escape?"

"Well... That is-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAH! I HAVE TO PEE! WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO ME? I'M INNOCENT!"

"...They're only kids. What can they do against us? We'll make it quick." The marines all nodded.

_Ten minutes later..._

In front of the bathroom door lay three unconscious marines on top of each other. Inside the unisex bathroom, the only toilet and the sink were overflowing. On the floor were pieces of soap. Foams were all over the place. Not far away, Chuckie and Perry waddled down an empty hallway in wet clothes silently, each holding a rifle, a trail of water tailing them all the way.

"Did I do good, Chuckie-niisan?" the girl whispered.

He gave her a thumb up. "You were awesome!" he praised.

* * *

Arria supposed that it had been wise to deal with the first mate instead of the captain. The blond man now seemed a lot more reasonable, authoritative and overall more reliable than Eustass Kidd. It was a strange dynamic to witness within a pirate crew- usually, the captain was the all-powerful commander from what she'd seen and heard. Rarely were anyone else allowed to take charge. In this crew, 'Massacre Man' Killer definitely had a lot more control than 'Captain' Kidd, who was attempting to have an one-side argument with his first mate all this time.

_He's an idiot,_ the woman thought, glancing coldly at the redhead out the corner of her eyes. _Hmph, how did he even think to become a pirate in the first place? Or get this many people to follow him?_ Granted, this crew was also pretty damn small compared to normal, but she would bet her life that none of them were particularly weak by any means, or lack in the intelligence department. It puzzled her considering how low of an opinion she was beginning to have of their leader.

They were taking the long way through the mountain, which was the reason why Kidd was mad at Killer in the first place; he had originally wanted to make a grand appearance through town and fight their way in. Who knew that the masked man wanted to be all cautious?

With the exception of Mustang, who got trapped in one of Chevy's traps, and the trapper himself, the rest of the crew including Ren were all together.

By then, night had long fallen, and the only thing to be seen in the sky was the half moon as the worm led them through the dark with her sense of smell. Killer's plan was relatively simple; distraction in front, infiltration from the back. The dark would be extremely advantageous to their causes of sneaking in.

"Hiroki, Camry, you two go with her. Take Ren with you," he said, motioning at the woman. At the sound of her name from the masked man's lips, the worm rushed over and purred up, and was ignored much to her disappointment. "The rest of us will attack from the front. You have half an hour to find and rescue them before we retreat." He then turned to the Spartian. "Zinc, you'll deal with Akainu."

He did not get an answer.

"Oi, Zinc!" the first mate called again. "Are you listening?"

No answer.

A vein popped on his forehead. "Kidd," he hissed, facing the angry captain. "You better make him listen!"

"No," the other said juvenilely, averting his head away. One would almost expect him to stick out his tongue.

"Then give command for him to listen to me!"

"No!"

"This isn't a joke, you idiot!"

"I don't care!"

The air began cooling rapidly. Killer cracked his knuckles. "Five," he began counting. No reaction. "Four!" Kidd's face twitched. "Three!" Even more twitching.

_WHAM! BOINK! BAM! BAM! WHAM!_ And a painful scream. Rocks crumbled down the mountain road. The rest watched, sweat-dropping.

"YOU DIDN'T COUNT TO ONE, YOU BASTARD! WHY DIDN'T YOU COUNT TO ONE? YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO COUNT TO ONE!"

"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO COUNT AT ALL!"

_An idiot,_ Arria concluded. _A true idiot. _

A minute later, Kidd was sporting a swollen right cheek and three bumps on his head that were stacked on top of one another as he persuaded Zinc. He could feel Killer glaring behind him, and pointedly refused to turn around, fearing another onslaught.

"Now listen up, you son of a bitch!" he said to the Spartian. "That bastard right there with the mask is the vice! Meaning he's second in command to me! Meaning that he's higher than you in the hierarchy! Meaning that unless you don't value my life, you better listen to him or else I'm going to be a dead man! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Yes, my Fuhrer!"

"And for the last time, don't call me 'Furher'!"

"Yes, my Fuhrer!"

* * *

Sloth did not know what to feel. On one hand, he was relieved to be put in the "distraction" team, because as coincidentally as it was, a distraction was what he needed at the moment. On the other hand, he was enraged. He had been enraged ever since he first saw that sword, and even though he knew that he probably would not be able to control himself from killing the sword-bearer, he was angry at the fact that Killer purposely kept him from revenge. The only thing he could do was cling on to his senses, and keep his rage under control for as long as they had to cooperate with her.

Right now, their group of four strolled up to the gate of the marines, the two guards in front having already been slaughtered by their own weapons- a cause of Kidd's Devil Fruit power. Right now, he was well distracted.

"You take the lead from here," the first mate said to the captain, nodding towards the gate.

Kidd's face immediately lit up as he stepped forwards. Sloth could see a grin forming on his face. A hand was raised, tingling with electricity, and the gate blasted apart.

Alarm went off everywhere.

"OI!" Kidd hollered above the volume of the siren, already gathering quite an amount of fighting supplies around him from nearby housings and within the base, the metal objects flying all around. "RED DOG! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE! I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

His screaming was so loud that even the other four on the other side of the base heard him. Hiroki reacted without sparing a moment, leaping down from the rock they were hiding behind and- because he did not want to get into a conflict with the cook in the middle of this mess- rendered the two guards unconscious by knocking their heads together instead of snapping their necks. The picking of the gate's lock wasn't hard at all, and soon, they were in.

"Ren, we're ready," Camry said to the worm, who barked and slithered ahead of them, sniffing. "You smelled anything?"

"Woof!"

"Then I suggest we check the jail first," Hiroki answered her. "A typical marine base has them underground."

"Woof?"

"Obviously where it smells the worst," the cook told her.

"Woof! Woof, woof!"

Camry smiled and pat her on the head. "Good girl."

Arria observed this with an intriguing frown. "You people can speak worm?" she asked.

"No," the pirates' shipwright told her. "But Giant Man-Eating worms are very expressive creatures, so we usually are able to tell how they feel and what they're trying to convey most of the time."

She stared with doubts, and was ignored.

With the area cleared of marines, they ran within the building, racing steadily behind Ren, who was almost moving too fast for the humans to keep up. Arria kicked open the door to the stairway, and the three dashed down to the underground level, meeting little resistance.

"Woof!" the worm suddenly barked, stopping a sniffed the air more before directing her head towards the nearest door, which was kicked open again by the woman who ran in without waiting for the pirates.

"Perry!" she shouted just before the other three came in, looking around the place frantically. All of the jailed inmates' eyes flew to her in shock, they could telling perfectly well that she wasn't a marine. She didn't care for the stares, and went up to the nearest person. "You," she hissed at the frightened man who scrambled back in his cell at the sight of her bandaged head. "Was there is a little girl in here before?"

"W-Who-"

"Answer me!" Arria snarled, losing patience.

"Oi, are you looking some kids?" someone else shouted further away. "Yeah, there were two of 'em! One with an afro, right? The other an albino girl?"

Camry turned to him. "Yes! Where are they?"

"Meh, they've been gone for half an hour on a bathroom break with some marines!" the same man answered. They could see him smirking in the distance. "Either really smart kids or dead kids. That was a pretty long bathroom break! Wahahahaha!"

Ren watched as the three humans froze, exchanging glances, and she herself began sniffing the air again. She wandered out, continuing to smell their tracks all the way to the nearest bathroom. Strangely enough, Chuckie's scent stopped right here, and she could detect nothing else but the perfume of soap.

"...We're too late?"

* * *

It didn't take long for Akainu to come out at all. Amid the countless similar marine soldiers, his appearance was like that of a lion among kitty cats, driving awe in everyone around him, even making Kidd, who was boasting like he was before, to back off. Granted, he'd only boasted because he was supposed to raise his voice as a signal to the other four, but Akainu certainly knew nothing about their plan. Killer and Sloth kept busy with the nameless soldiers, leaving the admiral for him and Zinc to deal with.

"Do you have a death wish, Rookie?" the admiral growled, a sinister smirk forming on his face to match with Kidd's own malicious grin.

"Death wish?" he echoed as if he'd never heard those words before in his life. "No, I would remember if I do. I think kicking your sorry-ass government's dog behind works just as well for me!"

A low chuckle escaped from the admiral's lips. "Pirate scums always dream big." And without warning, lava poured in waves, covering the ground rapidly. "_Inugami Guren!_"

_Shit!_ Kidd jumped immediately just before the molten rocks washed over where he used to stand, gathering up massive amount of objects at the same time, forming giant clusters, shields and arms. The Spartian, not affected at all by the temperature, rushed ahead with his trident set in position, and thrust it into the admiral's chest with forces of Haki backing him, throwing a punch with his free hand. Akainu reeled back in surprise, almost letting down his guard against the Haki. Simultaneously, Kidd's weapon-bombs crashed down on him, the metal scattering in the pool of lava like a meteor shower.

"Tch, is there anyway to hurt him at all?" the pirate captain hissed under his breath landing on the ground as Akainu regenerated fast. "If I try fighting him hand-to-hand, I can't touch him and he'd burn me. And all he does is melt what I throw at him. I can barely repel his shit!"

For the second time, he was actually thankful of having Zinc in the crew. Lava, fire, that monster of a man just wouldn't get hurt.

_No..._ he then thought grudgingly. _If I can't even beat an admiral, then how the fuck am I even suppose to be the King of Pirates? I'm the captain of this crew! If Zinc can do it, why shouldn't I be able to?_

His false arms flexed, rustling as it did, as he never took his eyes off Akainu.

_I'll crush him!_

* * *

Inside, Chuckie and Perry peered out the window of a storage room in shock.

"Are they crazy?" the boy asked nobody. "What were they thinking? Attacking a marine base? Where are my brothers? Even Camry-niisan doesn't have the common sense to stop them? If they're saving us, you'd think that they'd be a lot more smarter and does it more sneakily! Boss, you idiot!"

Perry said nothing, but instead scanned the fight below, her heart dropping.

Where was Arria?

Chuckie grabbed her hand and pulled her away. "Let's go!"

* * *

_Thirty minutes,_ Hiroki reminded himself. _Thirty minutes and Sencho's group will retreat. We've already used up well over fifteen minutes in here, possibly even twenty. _ He glanced at the cook and the swordswoman. _They're panicking._

They _were _panicking, otherwise, they would've kept to a less crowded section and not messed with any of the marines. Right now, the four were surrounded from all directions. He couldn't count how many were there, but that was because he couldn't see the end of them either. The biggest problem, unfortunately again, was Camry. While Hiroki himself was killing because he felt it was necessary right at the moment, and Blood Thief was finishing them off at an equal pace to his, he saw the cook holding back again and again.

Of course, Ren was doing the best she could being what she was, although she wasn't within sight anymore. Then again, an animal like her must have already disappeared underground again. Hiroki suspected that she may be outside waiting for them.

_Why can't he understand that it's no different from a marine killing a pirate?_ he thought, looking back at his nakama._ Neither side shows mercy. He needs to understand that._

"Oi," the woman hissed at him. "Tell that crew mate of yours to start killing already! Knocking them aside or barely injuring them only makes more trouble for us!"

He looked coldly at her. "While my thoughts do not differ, I'll remind you that you're in no place to order me around."

_Snap. Snap. Snap._ Three necks broke and three bloodless body fell.

Arria seethed and glared at him before going back to her own killing business.

Beside him, he looked on with disapproval at Camry's method of grabbing marines by the neck, asking them the whereabouts of Chuckie, and throwing them aside when he learned no answer.

"We're not moving anywhere at your rate, Camry-san. Please just finish them fast, don't waste any more time," he pleaded.

"That's not the problem!" the cook denied, not seeing his point at all. "This base is too big! They could be anywhere."

"We're on a time limit," he reminded him.

"I know that, but-"

"We have barely five minutes left now. I suggest we get out of here and join the retreat before the admiral comes back into the building, otherwise we'll be trapped if he does."

"We can't! We need to find Chuckie first!"

Hiroki clenched his jaws. _You stubborn mule..._ The idea of facing "Red Dog" Sakazuki did not appeal to him at all.

"Are everyone in your crew stupid?" Arria spat, snapping them from their thought to her as she pulled her blade out from the body of a soldier, the metal coated with blood. "Get moving! Interrogating them one at a time like you are is ineffective! You pirates aren't the only one with a child at stake here!"

Camry flushed pink with anger. "And what are you doing? Mindless mass murdering, that what!"

"What is this? A _pirate_'s lecturing me on not to kill?" She sneered, her eyes flashed. "Ha! How _ironic_!"

Like lightning, Hiroki gutted her in the stomach much to her lack of expectancy, a little irritated by her at this point. She lurched forward and gagged, her whole body shook by his punch.

"You'll get what you give, Blood Thief," he said in a low voice, holding her sword arm- her left arm- away from him and gripping her wrist a little rougher than he really needed to. She stilled, afraid to move. "We may be pirates, but you _will_ show us the respect we expect, or you will not believe how much _more_ miserable I can make your life."

With that, he let her go, and saw that her eyes were wide with rage, but never once did she lift her head up to challenge his lifeless gaze.

Maybe it was because he'd never had a younger one to care for that made him so indifferent towards this situation. Maybe it was the gut feeling that Chuckie was somewhere safe and they were just wasting time here. Either way, he did not find himself sympathizing for either of the other two. Having already stared at her for a good minute, he looked towards Camry this time; the cook was looking back with an outraged expression, probably at the fact that he'd just raised a hand against a woman.

He didn't care.

"It's been thirty minutes," he merely said to the look. "Time to retreat."

Chuckie's and Perry's screams rang through the air outside.

* * *

_Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!_ Kidd's arms lashed out, breaking the ground apart. The lava swept through the cracks, giving him greater running ground. He rushed towards Akainu, pseudo limbs sending a punch at the marine, taking the head right off of the Logia-user's lava body. Zinc roared a war cry, and kicked the headless body, sending it flying through the air and crashing into the wall of the marine base, which melted and disfigured by the heat. The air rippled by his kick, and he slammed his trident upon the concrete ground, shattering it, making more of what his captain had started.

Kidd scowled at himself despite that fact that he was able to hit. It was the only way he saw that allowed him to attack without coming in actual physical contact. It still didn't please him; he wasn't harming Akainu in any way due to the elemental ability, but was merely delaying the marine. It might seemed like that he was fighting offensively, but their difference in power had left him no choice but to keep himself protected by making sure that he couldn't be attacked.

He had decided that fighting a Logia was a pain the ass! And he had thought that Hiroki's father was bad enough.

Zinc attacked on relentlessly.

Nearby, Killer and Sloth killed with ease.

It was nearly thirty minutes since the whole fiasco started. Almost all the marines in the base were out fighting them by this point, and the civilians in nearby towns had gathered, some fleeing, some joining the battle and some that just stood there and watched as if this was a sort of entertainment for them.

Thirty minutes. They should be out by now.

_Akainu..._ The masked man glanced at the regenerating marine admiral, fending off another bunch of soldiers, then thought back to the Blood Thief. _A government dog like him will know the true story._ He kicked off a young recruit in uniform and ran for the admiral. His sword swung, clashing with the lava arm much to the surprise of Kidd and Zinc.

The sword was beginning to melt.

Killer kicked himself up and stomped Akainu down, only to be thrown off a moment later.

_He can deflect Haki attacks?_

"Sakazuki, is it?" the masked man growled.

"Killer, what are you-" Kidd tried to scream, but never got the chance to finish questioning.

_Bam! Wham! Wham! Slice!_ came the masked man's attacks for the second time.

"You're 'Massacre Man' Killer?" the admiral asked, and grinned, as if he knew something that Killer didn't. "Such a sad turn you made in your life. You chose the wrong path to follow, defied justice, and now you're going to pay for it. _Meigo!_" The 'Dark Dog' shot out, missing its target, who jumped back on safer ground, by centimeters. "You're as fast as _he_ says. Truly a wasted life to the World Government."

Ignoring the last part, the blond froze. "Who is '_he'_?" he snarled, going cold. The lava around him crystalized.

"Fufufufu, you know perfectly well who, rookie!"

"You're lying!" he shouted back, his heart racing in fear. "He's long gone!"

Kidd, who had been watching all this time, was clueless as to what they were talking about. 'He'? Who was 'he'? Was there something that he missed here? "Killer? Why are you fighting him? Get out of the way, you'll get hurt!" he said to his first mate.

Said first mate stopped again, realizing that he was being heard, and switched the subject.

"Where are those kids?" he growled, seeing that Hiroki's group were yet out.

"About to die!" Akainu answered, chuckling. "They are the banes of justice. A pirate, and a girl who should never had lived, both will be properly rid of as criminals."

_You bastard!_

Familiar screams pierced through the air before any of them moved.

"BOSS-MAN! SAVE US!" Chuckie cried, sprinting across the battle ground on top speed. Akainu's face twisted with astonishment and anger as Sloth quickly snatched Perry off the ground just before a marine soldier swiped at her, and Chuckie leaped and attached himself to Killer's left leg.

The other group, having heard the children's scream inside, rushed out in a matter of seconds.

The admiral changed his focus, and went after the woman without hesitation.

* * *

_"...or you will not believe how much _more _miserable I can make your life._" The threat that had struck fear into Arria's heart just minutes ago now rendered her scoffing and laughing at herself as to just how ridiculous her reaction was. She ran beside its speaker, tempted to stab and kill him for humiliating her like that. Respect? For pirates? For men? Men never deserved any of her respect! What did he know about misery? She had to laugh. How the hell could he make her any more miserable than now?

All her life, she kept hitting what she'd thought was rock-bottom, only to plunge into a deeper pit, and deeper and deeper until she was sure that she either hit hell or this pit she was falling in didn't have a bottom. Perry was the only thing that kept her on the edge.

She ran out and saw the girl in the grasp of the Sloth, and snarled.

With her sword drawn and not caring for anything else, she charged ahead, stabbing him right in the abdomen from behind before taking Perry back and covering the girl's eyes.

"Arria-san, someone's bleeding. I saw blood," the girl said to her as she took out the sword, making Sloth growl in anguish.

The woman didn't answer her, clutching her tightly and backed off fast. A lava fist crashed on the ground just behind them, burning Arria's legs as the molten heat splattered over her clothes. A sword was above her, about to cut down. She didn't move fast enough.

Sloth attacked, maddened and ruthless by his wrath, and thrust one of his swords right into her side, _twisted_ its angle, and cut right out. She howled in pain as blood flooded her mouth.

"Get out of my way, Red Dog!" the pirate doctor growled, shifting his attention to the admiral. "This woman is mine to kill!"

Akainu clenched his jaws. "I don't think so, pirate!"

Taking the opportunity, she stumbled out from the fight, gasping for breath, clutching the bleeding wound on her side as Perry cried in her arms. Hate filled her at the sound of the girl's sob.

_Scums! _Her mind shrieked with rage as the two male battled. Her back burned. _Just die!_

Arria ran as far as she could from the marine base, and headed straight for the frightened crowds of the island people.

* * *

It all happened too fast for Kidd to comprehend. At first, him and Zinc were fighting Akainu, then Killer suddenly stepped in for no reason, Hiroki's group were out in the open, that damn woman picked a fucking fight with Sloth, and now, he could see her in the distance running away.

_Coward! Fucking bitch, we helped you, and now you're abandoning us?_ he thought, debating whether or not to go after her.

Camry now held Chuckie, also fleeing.

"Sloth, retreat!" Killer shouted towards their doctor. "We're done here!"

Fire was dancing on lava as Sloth and Akainu fought. Housings were catching on flames and the air heated up to the point of where people were having a hard time breathing. Even the masked man was having little success stopping them.

What did stop them stopped them all.

The ground began to shake.

_What is this? _Kidd wondered and stopped in mid-step, his Devil Fruit ability suddenly drastically shifted and distorted. Without even understanding entirely of what he was sensing, he could tell that something was going wrong underground. His Log Pose abruptly set without regards to time, filling him with bewilderment. _Something's moving. Something is-_

The top of Mt. Hera began to sputter.

And the volcano that had been in dormant since before civilization settled around her erupted furiously.

The molten, glowing lava spilled.

...

"RUN!"

_Shit!_ was all he could think of as people sped past him. Without wasting him, he ran too. "Killer, let's go!"

His first mate did not follow.

"KILLER!"

Scanning the area once more, the redhead broke off, deciding that his first mate was more than capable of saving himself.

True to his prediction, the masked man did run. He ran as far as twenty steps before he stopped, remembering something.

"Zinc!" he shouted for the Spartian, who heard him and responded to his call.

"I am here!"

He gave a final order.

* * *

When this all ended, she would not be blamed. The pirates had been cast in too bright of a spotlight for her to hit with any newspaper. Marineford wouldn't take her into consideration, disregarding this as just another sighting of her, and she would escape with Perry until they could find somewhere safe to live. She had it all pictured in her mind; a little house on an uninhabited island, just the two of them and no one else. Anyone who step foot on their island, she would kill. They would have the peace that she'd never experienced. It was a great dream. It was an unlikely dream.

It was not her dream, but for Perry, it was what she was willing to fight and be a coward for.

She had ran past the crowds. This area was much less populated. Instantly, she shook the child, and the child looked up as she placed her down on the ground.

"Perry, listen to me," she said to the girl. "There's a cave in the mountainside by the edge of this town near the water. It's not far, and it's not the same cave before. We saw it when we first came to this island four days ago. Do you remember it?"

She got a nod.

"You can see the water from that cave. Arria-san will got find a ship, and Arria-san will sail past there when she finds that ship, all right?" Arria said, wondering why she was talking in third person all of a sudden. "I want you to hide there. Don't let anyone see you. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good, now go!"

Perry didn't hesitated, and head off straight for her destination. The woman watched her go, sadness blocking her throat and guilty pride swelling her heart at the same time. She had taught Perry well, she should be, of all things, proud. But she wasn't, and she knew exactly why.

Minutes after the girl had left, she began her move as well. It was only then that the ground first started rumbling. She stopped, her inside going cold, and she hoped that she had only imagined it.

Then the ground beneath her _quaked_ violently, and a bright light lit up the sky behind her as Mt. Hera erupted. She spun around, staring in horror as the smoke blew up as a mushroom cloud, the lava pouring down the mountain like water. Around her, the community flew into absolute chaos.

_No... Perry..._ She stood frozen for a split of a second, her heart sinking fast in her chest. She breathed in, and her lungs were quickly filled with the toxic smoke, the spreading ashes blocking her air and clogging her nose.

Disregarding all that, she ran anyway. Now wasn't the time to panic, it was the time to steal her a ship before they were all go-

"Aaah!" Someone pushed past her, knocking right into her stabbed side. She fell on the ground, and instantly experienced painful spasms in her guts that resounded through her entire body from where Dead Eyes had struck her earlier.

_Damn them!_ she cursed, attempting to get up. In the background, the sound of cannon fires rang.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

**_BOOM!_** She had almost gotten back up when something right next to her was blown into smithereens.

It was a house.

She glanced to her side just in time for the pieces to fall on her, burying her under the weight of bricks, woods and heavy furniture, crushing her ribs and pinning her leg. The friction scorched her burning back where Akainu's lava had touched. She coughed up some blood and attempted to move, knowing that she had to get to Perry before the lava spread- it was already three-fourth of the way down the mountain.

Everyone was fleeing around her, screaming.

Nobody could help her.

"Killer, let's go!" a familiar voice shouted.

_It's him!_ That pirate!

"KILLER!"

She reached out and grabbed the edge of Kidd's furcoat before he could run further. The captain flinched in surprise and looked down to see what had stopped him.

"You..." she heard him hiss and saw him sneer at her current condition. "Oh? What have you got to say now? Thought you can use us like that, didn't you?"

She bit down her insults and gulped back the blood. "I can't move."

"I see that," he said, trying to yank his clothing from her grip. "See you in hell-"

"No wait!"

Even though she didn't think he'd stop, he did, still looking down at her with that same sneering gaze.

"There's a cave on near the water on the edge of this town!" she quickly rambled out. "Perry's in there! If someone doesn't get her in time, the lava's going to cover that entire area!"

"So what?"

"She'll die!"

"And why do you expect me to care?" Kidd asked, glaring down at her with cold fury. "You had abandoned us quite easily. Maybe this is payback-"

"Please! I'm begging you! You don't have to do shit about me, 'Captain' Kidd!" she shouted. "But she's a child! She's innocent! She's done nothing wrong! Please save her!" The lava was pouring out like mad. "PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO!" the woman screamed, the smoke burned her eyes so much that she didn't even realize that she was crying. "SHE'S THE ONLY THING THAT I GOT LEFT!

Kidd stared at her, yanked the furcoat away, and ran.

Arria watched him go, her sobbing quieting a little even though she didn't know if her pleading had worked or not, praying with whatever faith she had left within her that some sort of miracle would happen.

* * *

Kidd didn't know why he'd listened to the bitch. Their part of the mission was done. Chuckie was saved, and since his Log Pose set so quickly due to the sudden shift beneath this island that made this eruption happen, they were ready to set sail by this point.

He was never the kind of person to fall for women's tears, and this time made no difference. If she had cried, begging him to save herself, he wouldn't have done it.

Her words hit home harder than he'd expected. _"...A child... Innocent... Done nothing wrong..._"

It hurt.

It hurt that nobody said that about him when he was little. It hurt that no one had told his mother the same so that she might have loved him like a proper mother would, that no one dared say it out loud when people pointed and stared at him- It was right after that thought that something finally hit him, and he fully understood just _why_ he'd listened to her. His teeth clenched, and he snorted under his breath at how pathetic the reason was.

_Of course! That stupid woman! I thought it was strange that she cares so much about one little girl. So that's why!_

He was close to the cave. In fact, he could see the girl right now, trying to scramble into the cave despite that common sense should tell anyone else other wise, blinded by the smoke and crying.

_What the hell is that kid doing?_ he thought, and picked up his pace. _Does she not see that the lava will kill her if she goes in?_

"OI!" he shouted at Perry, catching her attention. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? GET AWAY FROM THERE!"

"But Arria-san said to wait for her in there," she answered.

"ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING? GET OUT OF THERE!"

He caught up just in time and snatched her off the ground, jumping away from the lava. Carelessly, he threw her over his shoulder where she quickly adjusted herself, getting inside his coat and wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist like she'd done it a million times.

"Your bitch of a mother told me to get you," he told the girl, who flinched, her red eyes widening. "We're leaving! But if you start crying, I'm going to dump you behind and pretend that she never begged me to save you in the first place!"

"Onii-chan, where's Arria-san?"

"She's going to die!" Kidd declared, looking for which direction he should head next. "So shut up!"

Now the escape would've been a lot simpler.

A lava fist splattered in front of him.

"Don't think you can get away that easily, Eustass Kidd!" Akainu growled, having learned Kidd's full name by now.

Zinc, of course, was nowhere to be seen.

Kidd grimaced, backed off, and then slowly found himself grinning.


	64. Foreign Concepts

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Kiku90_ and _Fishy-Neko-Fangirl_ for reviewing!

I nearly missed the deadline because I could not get motivated enough to write yet_ another_ Akainu-fighting scene, which is the first scene this chapter, as well as the fact that this was a hard chapter to write for some unknown reasons. The flow seems too fast for me, but at the same time slowing it down would just add unnecessary materials. I could only hope to say that I at least met some sort of middle ground during editing. Very strange; it was one of the chapters that I looked most forward to writing before too.

Vote the gaddaymn poll yoo foo's! :U ...Please? ...I said 'please'! ...You will vote the poll or I'll send Bat-chan after you for not voting on his poll! ...It's not like I tell you to vote on some meaningless OCs like Hiroki or Ren whom you care nothing about. I thought that Bat-chan is important! ;A;

Speaking of Hiroki... Shiiiiiiiit... **Forgive him, forgive me... **Hell, what am I talking about? Even I can't forgive him while writing this chapter!

* * *

Perry clung on tighter, calm as always.

"Onii-chan," she said in a small voice right beside Kidd's ear. "I think you should run."

The pirate's face quirked with slight annoyance at her suggestion, his eyes never leaving the admiral in front of him, not moving a finger even though the lava was coming down and covering the ground at a faster and faster rate. Anyone else would have ran from Akainu knowing who he was, but Kidd wasn't just anyone. He was someone who'd gotten into his head that if his very own first mate and his subordinates had the possibility of kicking this motherfucker's ass, then he should be able to as well.

The fact that Zinc could not be affected at all by the lava did not escape his mind, fueling jealousy. The fight which Sloth had with Akainu just before the volcano erupted encouraged him. The way that Killer was actually able to physically come in contact with this Logia user and not be burned into crisp heightened his curiosity. He knew that his first mate was not a brute-head like Zinc; the lava should have hurt him, so why wasn't he affected? What did they have that Kidd lacked?

"Brat," he spoke to the girl on his back. "What's your name?"

"Perry," the brat answered him.

"All right. Hold on, shithead," he commanded, completely defeating the purpose of asking for her name in the first place, gathering up all the metal objects he could. The air tingled with purple crackings as he did so. "If you fall, then it's your own fault. Understand?"

"Uh... Uh huh," she replied, nodding.

Akainu smirked at him. "Mindless rookie," he muttered amid the pooling natural lava, his own power brooding. "_Inugami Guren!_" The head of the black dog rose from the molten pool and lunged.

"_Repel_!" Kidd countered. The head didn't stop at all. "Shit!" He leaped, and swung one of his pseudo arm down.

_CLANK!_ It screeched as it scratched the ground, heading for the admiral and knocking him apart. "You goddamn magma bastard! I'll- Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" he screamed in pain, falling from the sky as lava splattered upward all over his face and chest. Quickly, he summoned what he had and made a pile, impacting his "safe ground" face down, sparing Perry from the rough hit.

Sharp edges of those objects dug into his skin, knives cut everywhere.

"Damn it..." Kidd swore under his breath, slowly standing up on his feet and pulling out the things one at a time out of him. Luckily, none of it were fatal hits. He still feel stupid for wounding himself despite that, but it was the only way, the lava had already covered everywhere, giving he next to no landing ground. This was enemy territory both literal-wise and ability-wise.

"'Eustass 'Captain' Kidd', a rookie of seventy million bounty," Akainu said. "You ate a Devil Fruit as well."

"Oh?" the pirate mocked, wiping blood away from his chin. "Did it take you this long to notice, you buffoon?"

"Hmph, it's an useless ability, as far as how you will fare against me! Surrender like the coward you are in the name of justice, you might live a little longer," came the retort.

His fists clenched. "Like the hell am I going to! I am the man who will be the King of Pirates! Don't you fucking dare belittle _me,_ navy dog! I'll kick your ass to the moon, you motherfucker!" His regenerated his arm. "Eat this!

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" the lava dotted his body once more as Akainu was blasted apart by his blow. Perry buried her head against the nape of his neck.

"_Daifunka!_"

Kidd jumped again, not yet recovered, and landed slipping into the pool. The heat burned away at his shoes, traveling through the leather and burning his feet. He screamed and ran out, legs shaking in agony, his entire body breaking out in sweat. It had felt as if his skin was disintegrating, and it wasn't until his head cleared a little did he notice little dirty fingernails clawing his shoulder blades.

"Oi, kid," he called. "You got hit or something?"

"...No," the girl whimpered.

"Yeah well, don't try to rip my skin off!" he snapped. "Hold on to my coat so it won't fall off."

She immediately changed the position of her hands at his command and gripped tightly on the collars of his fur coat. He looked back at the marine, racking in his mind for something that he could use to defeat him.

_What did they do that I'm not doing?_

"Impressive talent, Eustass Kidd. You manage to coward from my attacks so far," the marine commented.

"Shut up!" he snarled back, hearing the word 'coward'. _That bastard! Calling me a coward?_

"Fufufu, what's the use of patching your pride, pirate?" Akainu taunted in a low, cold voice. "After all, it won't matter a bit after your death. You'll always be remembered as a scum, a nothing, a waste of air!"

Veins grew on Kidd's head and neck as his blood boiled. "What did you say?" he hissed.

"Not to worry, your crew will soon join you," the admiral continued, his arms puffing with deadly smoke. "I will personally take pity on your young lives and send your first mate after you first to keep you company in hell!"

That broke it.

Kidd ran towards him through the lava , kicking himself up and _punched,_ first across the face and second in the gut before landing a third right in the nose. Akainu, caught off guard, turned into lava and reappeared behind him before he could hit a fourth time.

"_Meigo!_"

"Don't 'Meigo' me!" _Wham!_ He met fist with fist, halting the attack in mid-movement.

..._It doesn't hurt?_ No, that wasn't. He could still sense the heat, but it felt like there was a barrier protecting his hand from it even though he was directly touching it. It didn't burn either.

Didn't matter.

Akainu looked mildly surprised.

Confidence suddenly surged through Kidd's inner being like fire at that face. His sense of smell suddenly sharpened and became more sensitive to the smoke and heat. There was a feeling, something very, very close to arrogance. He couldn't describe it. It was empowering, as if there were some unknown forces or power within him bursting out. His lips pulled back into a wide, insane smile at the sheer, overwhelming feeling of it, the feeling that the world was his. Once again, his conscience did not question such emotion's presence.

For a moment, his eyes met with Akainu's, and he saw silver.

_WHAM!_ With one swing, he punched through the lava and sent the shocked marine admiral flying and colliding against the mountain side. His feet didn't hurt now either as he walked through the molten pool, as if protected by something physical, as oppose to the kind of barrier that he'd first felt.

"Hehehe..." he found himself laughing, glaring down at his enemies with a strange thrill in his eyes. He wanted to hurt the man.

Strangely, no anger drove such thrill.

He just wanted to _hurt_.

Perry, still clinging on to him, hugged tighter. "Onii-san?" she whispered fearfully, noticing the difference. He didn't feel like the same person. "Are you all right?"

The pirate ignored her.

"You..." the admiral growled, reappearing from the lava pool. "How did you-"

_WHAM!_ Kidd punched again before he can complete his sentence.

"Shut up, Red Dog." It didn't even sound like his voice.

The lava bubbled and burped around him, Akainu swimming amongst it all. He waited, he waited patiently.

Eight towers of lava shot straight up into the air, surrounding him in the middle, and then came plunging down upon him, aimed to confine, burn and bury. Kidd snarled, staring up at it and-

_SLICE!_ Something cut a large, scorching gush across his chest as he moved, and he howled in agony as his flesh hissed and twisted. He stumbled back, mind racing like an animal's, and reacting on pure instinct, he lunged forward with blades gathering by his power and smashed straight into the marine's chest, pressing down on the heart, and, before retracting his left hand, punched again with his right. The admiral reeled back, spewing out blood with eyes widened in absolute disbelief, only to have his entire body be slammed down onto the ground.

_Who is this rookie?_ Akainu thought, letting panic get to him for the first time in years.

There was a flicker of silver in Kidd's eyes.

_Silver? _Wasn't his eyes amber?

The final blow came for the head.

_WHAM! _His skull cracked the slightest just before he managed to escape as lava.

...

Kidd leaned back, staggering slightly as the adrenaline pumping through his blood stream howled with the ultimate pleasure. He took steps back from Akainu's transforming body, and felt the heat approaching his feet again. The feeling wore off.

His skin started burning again.

_Shit!_

He glanced once at Mt. Hera's spilling top, once at the countless ships on the sea escaping, breathed the dust-filled smoke from the eruption, paid a second more attention to the hissing of his leather shoes being eaten away, and ran for it.

* * *

The lava had flooded the edge of Hera, and came rushing into civilian areas, sweeping through the crack in the ground, filling up gaps, the level of the liquid rising as it spread out. It was close to her. Maybe not even half a kilometer away from where she was stuck under the shambles of the wrecked house. The smoke, dust and ashes had long clouded the air, and even then, Arria wasn't sure which would get her first; the smoke, the lava or her own wounds.

Her inside felt hallow, and she herself felt nothing less of a failure.

If Eustass Kidd listened to her, then maybe everything would be worthwhile. But what if he didn't? What if he went back to his own crew and left Perry there to die? He was right. Why should he care? At this thought, her anger flared and energy resounded through her by the adrenaline. Yet, as quickly as that strength had came it went.

_Damn it._

Her body slackened by her weak will, crushing her hope along with it. Right now, her mental state couldn't even consider the pain of the possibility of Kidd not saving Perry. She herself had failed horribly as everything she was, and it ached to know.

The lava was close. The air was unbearable. She couldn't move.

All of a sudden, someone's footsteps thundered on the ground, stopped beside her, and the weight on her body was thrown off. Arria stilled, and then saw the high heel boots and fishnet of one of the Kidd pirates, who looked down at her with indifference before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Blood spilled from her stomach. The lava swept past right after, going as high up as Zinc's ankle in a matter of moments. She stared down in silence.

A second later and she would've been dead.

"...What are your intentions? Why are you saving me?" she demanded, startled by his action. She was so sure that he was either here to kill her, or had approached near by coincidence and merely came to watch her die.

Zinc trudged through the molten rocks and stepped onto a safer spot.

"Orders of the Vice-Fuhrer," he answered.

* * *

_Maria_'s crew was hectic, as any crew missing its own captain would be.

The ship had already set sailed, fearing that the lava would reach the harbor if they'd stayed to wait for a minute longer. Luckily, the crew, including Zinc who carried the now-unconscious woman on his back had made it early during the eruption process, and everyone had assumed that everyone else had gotten back. Arria was lay in the infirmary. Unluckily, it wasn't until that they were a good distance away from the island did Killer think of to call for Kidd, resulting in a hysteria as the brothers flew around the ship looking for him. It was soon concluded that he wasn't on board.

"Can we go back without having that admiral coming after us?" Mustang asked.

"Aniki, don't be ridiculous! The lava will get us before he can!" Camry shouted back.

The ship halted, the sails pulled up. Around them, people fleeing the eruption sailed past at top speed. Even marine ships didn't stop to fight them. No doubt that the lava was predicted to touch the sea; it already covered half of the island, and still more poured out.

"That _idiot_," Killer hissed, his heart racing. "Where the _hell_ could he have gone? A volcano erupted for heaven's sake! Shouldn't he know to run for the ship?"

"Maybe he got lost," Hiroki suggested.

"He's a human compass," Chevy pointed out with amazement. "Is he even capable of getting lost?"

"Yes," they both answered.

"OI! I SEE HIM!" Chuckie screamed from the binocular within the operation room. "HE'S SAYING SOMETHING BUT I CAN'T TELL WHAT HE'S SAYING, AND HE LOOKS REALLY MAD AT US! AND-"

The first mate rushed in and moved the boy aside before anyone else could react, and peered into the lens. Sure enough, there was Kidd standing by the dock, quite injured and furiously screaming at them from the looks of it. Behind his back was a little albino girl. Killer leaned back with lips pressed together, stepped away and saw the rest of the crew outside, waiting to see what he would do. He sighed and stepped out, all eyes rested on him.

"Chevy, do we have ropes that can reach from here to shore?" he questioned.

"Just one," the trapper answered. "Why?"

"I want someone to go with me who can swim fast. He has a child with him," he said, looking around. "I can probably make it without a rope, and if one of you is-"

"Woof!" Ren barked, already somehow tied herself to said rope, tugging on Killer's jeans with her sharp teeth and panting with eagerness, more than happy to volunteer. The human's eyes subconsciously twitched with vexation.

"...Giant Man-Eating Worm _are_ extremely fast swimmer," Mustang said. "And she's big enough to carry a kid."

And so it was settled.

At the edge of the island, Kidd watched as two splashes happened beneath the ship, his lungs aching and out of breath from screaming so loud. He hoped that they'd heard him. In fact, they _better_ had heard him! How dare they set sail without their own captain, those bastards! All the smoke he'd inhaled was getting to him, the fight and the burst of energy had left him weak, and the burns fucking hurt like hell fire. Had he not remembered in time that he was a Devil Fruit user and couldn't swim, he would've long leaped and drowned himself because he was too tired to think. Ships filled with islanders were fleeing the scene, some people barely stopping to give him weird stares for just standing there.

_Killer..._ His lazy mind called. He could hear the lava hissing behind him as the things swam closer.

At least Akainu was down, for now, for whatever reason why. Some powerful admiral he was. _Tch... Why are marines all so weak?_

In the corner of his mind, such victory somehow bothered it. He tried to recall that previous feeling, but couldn't. The fight felt odd. The fight... He head ached and he groaned in pain, couldn't think further.

_This fucking sucks! Killer, you better come and get me, or else!_

"Onii-chan," Perry said. "If you're too tired, you can let me down."

"Shut up! Why the hell are you so calm?" he barked at her.

"But you're tired..."

"I know that I'm tired!"

_Splash!_ Goes the sea water splattering all over him, the coldness stinging his wounds everywhere. A loud slimy splat hit the deck, followed by a bark.

"Ren?" he asked, wiping the water from his eyes. "What the fuck, you stupid animal? That fucking hurt!"

"Woof! Woof!" The worm snapped her jaws at Perry's heels, who lifted her feet higher from the sharp teeth with fear.

Kidd, seeing this, dropped the girl, who was then tossed onto the worm's back. "Woof!" Perry clung tightly, a bit uncertain.

A vein popped on the captain's head. "OI! YOU BASTARD WORM!" he barked as she dived back into the ocean and swam away, the muscles in her tube body pushing together and apart. Water were shooting out from her "behind" like a steam engine. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING JUST LEAVING ME HERE? I'M THE CAP-"

Water splashed on him again, cutting him off and out from the sea jumped the masked man, who landed on his feet on the wooden dock, soaked from head to toe, his helmet draining and dripping and him breathing heavily.

The redhead quit his rage, his body relaxing at the sight of the masked man, who stopped breathing as his eyes locked on what condition the captain was in.

Up closer, Kidd looked a lot worse than from the binocular two miles away. There were red burn marks of where lava had hit him decorating his body like polka-dots, some piece of solidified rocks crumbling off everywhere, black and blue bruises and a large gush across his chest where the flesh had been burned cooked. He stilled, just staring, knowing exactly what had happened as Kidd's face turned into a blushing, scowling expression, looking back at him as if daring him to say something negative.

"That woman begged me to save her," he heard the redhead said. "And so I did. Then Red Dog cornered me."

_He fought... an admiral?_ Then where was Akainu? Did Kidd won? _How?_

Killer took a deep breath, and pushed away the many questions.

"We'll take care of explanations later," he said, not knowing what to respond to that, and found himself grabbing Kidd's hand and throwing the other's arm around his neck. "Take a deep breath and hold on. We're going to swim."

They dived, and the lava dived after them, boiling the water behind.

* * *

Back on the ship, Chevy quickly pulled back the long rope as Ren came back with the little girl riding on top of her, the bottom of the white dress drenched in water. With his brothers' help, they successfully got the happy worm back on, Camry lifting the girl off her back when he could reach them. Perry was instantly rushed into a spare room at the rear deck, and Chuckie followed as Ren dried off on deck, shooting his pet one last look that Ren didn't even bother noticing because she was too busy barking at Killer approaching them.

_Hmph,_ he thought grumpily, and ran off.

"There," the boy heard Camry said inside the spare room as he hid by the door. "We don't have anything your size, or any girl's wear on board as a matter of fact. The closest thing we have is a large shirt. Change into it so you don't catch a cold, all right?"

"All right," she replied.

"What's your name?"

"Perry."

Chuckie couldn't see it, but he could tell that his brother smiled. "Don't be scared, Perry. We may be pirates, but we aren't bad people. We won't hurt you," the cook assured. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, but where's Arria-san?"

_Arria-san again?_ he thought, a teasing little grin on his face. _Does she ever stop worrying about her big sis? What a big baby._ Apparently, he was not a child who understood irony or hypocrisy when it comes to self.

"Oh, her? She's safe," his brother said. "I'll get you some food. Try to rest in the mean time."

"Okay, thank you."

Chuckie dodged into the infirmary when Camry came out, earning an odd look from the doctor inside. The child waited a minute to make sure that she had done changing, looked around twice, sneaked into the bedroom right next door crawling all the way to the bedside, and popped his head up with a big smile, making to flinch. She relaxed when she saw whom it was.

"Hey, remember me?" he asked the girl flashing her a sheepish grin, scratching his head. "So uh... I'm sorry that I made you cry earlier..." he began. "...And yelled at you... And pulled your hair... Just thought that I should apologize. No hard feelings, eh?" He held out a hand to shake.

She stared at it for a good minute, and shook it.

"It's okay. I'm not mad."

His face brightened up. "Good! Now!" He held up his two action figures, almost shoving them in her face, excited to have a new playmate. "You wanna battle? I want to be Daft Man, but since I made you cry, I'll let you choose first! Aren't they awesome? These are the original set! You can't find them anywhere else in the world 'cause they're so rare! I was really surprised but I managed to get them for free before anyone else could. Who do you want to be-"

"Oi, Chuckie, what are you doing here?" Camry's voice rang out and the boy immediately tucked the figures back under his shirt and started whistling. The Mohawk man approached them, glancing down at him suspiciously. "She needs rest, you brat. Go play with Ren or something and let her sleep!"

His face suddenly darkened with a scowled. "I don't want to play with Ren anymore!"

"Hm?" The cook frowned, noticing that look as he set down a small tray of stir fry and rice in front of Perry, who picked up the fork and started eating. "Why not? Did you two have a fight?"

"She can play with Killer-san," the boy grumbled, looking down at the floor. "I don't like her anymore."

His brother raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

He shrugged as the worm's happy barks sounded outside, refusing to lift his head. Seeing this, Camry decided that it was none of his business. Kids would settle kids' problems their own ways.

"You still need to let Perry get some sleep," he pointed out.

"I know, I'm just here to..." Chuckie's eyes went around the room once. "...Read her a story."

Camry snorted and crossed his arms. "Yeah well, where's the book?"

"Oh... I forgot the book."

And with that, Chuckie hopped off, letting out a big sigh as soon as he'd walked out the room. He was tired and sleepy as well, since night had just past and he hadn't caught a wink of sleep since the night before. He'd never been up for this long. Still, he guessed that he could bring a book to her just for the show of it. He took the long way to the room that he shared with his brothers, purposely avoiding the worm who was up stairs in the captain's bedroom ogling at the first mate bandaging up Kidd. Once in his room, he found an easy reading chapter book and headed back.

Perry had just finished her food. The dark sauce of the stir fry made a ring around her lips as she slurped and wiggled her tongue out and around to get the taste. If he'd been an adult, he would've probably handed her something to wipe her mouth. But he was a kid, and being a kid, his table manners weren't too good either. Her messiness wasn't taken into consideration.

"I got a book!" he announced cheerily, seating himself by her bedside again. "See? It's a ghost story! Here, you read it."

He handed it to her as she put her tray aside and took it in her hand, looking at it with fascination like she had never seen a book before. She stared at the cover, her eyebrows wrinkling in concentration.

"Oi, you're holding it upside down!" Chuckie pointed out, and she turned it around with hesitation as if she thought that she wasn't doing it right. "Now you're looking at the back cover. Read the front!"

She obeyed, and slowly flipped it over.

And stared, just staring at the title.

"What? Don't you know how to read?" he asked, frowning as her eyebrows wrinkled more.

She bit he bottom lip and lifted a finger, putting it on the words.

"Th... Th... The..." she sounded out over the course of five minutes, tracing the letters slowly. "Lu... Lu... Lo..." She bit her lips again. "Lock... er... o... of... D... Da... Dad..."

"That's not a 'd', that's a 'b.'"

"...Thanks," Perry muttered, looked away from the book, and didn't open her mouth again. She seemed rather ashamed.

Chuckie blinked at this, feeling the awkward air casting from her, and felt bad.

"You know what? I'll read it to you since you're tired," he offered, taking it back. "My brother's gonna get mad at me if I keep you up too long anyway."

She nodded and lay down as he opened up the cover. "_The Locker of Dabney Jones,"_ he read. _"Once upon a time, long before rowdy pirates, heroic marines, and trading merchants, sailors sailed the sea for their love of sea. One heart-warming fellow was Dabney Jones. He was the captain of his sailing crew, kind, strong and brave. They sailed not for money or gains, but romance to become the accepted children of Mother Ocean._"

He paused and looked up to see if Perry had any reaction, even though he was nowhere near done with the beginning.

She was already deep asleep.

_That fast?_ he thought in surprise, hearing her steady breathing. Frowning, he stuck his head between the book and read silently to himself the rest of the way.

Ten minutes past, and he, too, felt his own eyelids getting heavier. In no time, his head was nodding against his will as he struggled to finish the first chapter. It was then that three knocks woke him from the drowsiness. He sat up just in time as Hiroki opened the door with caution, peering inside.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" the man asked, stepping in and quietly closed the door behind him. Chuckie noted that he was carrying a measuring tape, a clipboard and a pen.

"No, but I was about to sleep too," he answered, yawning. "What are you here for?"

Hiroki walked up to the bed. "Preparing," he said, gently pulling the girl's blanket down. "Here, can you hold out her arm? I need to get a measurement."

"...Okay? ...Preparing for what though?" He did what he was told, and held Perry's arm straight for the tape nonetheless.

A moment past of the man writing the lengths down.

"It's important," Hiroki said, giving him a little smile, and took the measurements of her waist, then her leg, her head, her neck, her individual fingers... Chuckie watched, curious. "I don't think that I should tell you."

"Why not?"

Hiroki then gently plucked out a strand of white hair from her head, earning an odd look from the boy.

"It's a secret. You should sleep," he advised, then noticed something. "Is that her dress on the floor?"

Chuckie looked down and saw the discarded soggy white dress that Perry had abandoned for the baggy shirt. "Yes, Camry-niisan told her to change out of it since its wet."

Hiroki bent down and picked it up. "Tell her that I'll borrow it for a while when she wakes up, will you? I will clean it and give it back afterwards."

And with that, he was gone.

Chuckie, tired as hell by that point, fell asleep, and wasn't sure if that was real or just a dream.

* * *

When Zinc carried on board Bloody Thief, the shipwright had immediately sensed something off. He might not consider himself the one person in the world who best knew the first mate and the captain, but being in the crew for the longest out of everyone else, it wasn't hard to figure out who'd given the command to save her. Zinc himself would not care for someone whom he would consider a barbarian. Kidd, while not to be defined as heartless, was perfectly capable of watching someone else die and not give a fuck. Killer could be said the same thing, except that the masked man would take other factors into consideration.

And those "factors" revolving around Blood Thief and the World Government were very, very tempting.

Right now, he could see and hear upstairs in the captain's room Killer treating Kidd's wounds and them bickering about how the wounds should be treated.

In criminals' world, if one gives or does for another person anything, they'd expect ten times the payment back. He'd seen it all his life; the numerous times of bribery his family made with the South Blue Headquarters, the borderline illegal favors they'd done for them, the family loansharking business, the casinos, the hostess clubs and whorehouses, and the drug ring that brought in billions of beri every year- mounting up to nearly half of their annual profits... Killer would not save anyone for nothing either.

Situation-wise, this needed to be dealt with a tad differently.

He strolled past the infirmary, carrying his equipment, stopped in the middle of the walk, and decided to drop in. His presence was not acknowledge at first. That was fine, seeing as the crew's doctor was the type of person who liked to isolate himself.

With his past revealed, it changed things a little.

"I take that you hate her a lot," he commented, ceasing the doctor in the middle of mixing ointments for the burns.

Sloth turned and looked straight at him in the eyes, unfazed by his remark. "When you have everyone you've ever loved and cared about slaughtered in front of your eyes, it's very easy to hate anyone," he merely replied before going back to his business.

Hiroki said nothing to it, even could go as far as reasoning that he didn't understand such feeling. After all, the only person whom he was even remotely fond of had been his oldest sister, and she was long gone from his life running her own. Love and care were foreign concepts to him.

"If you find it difficult to treat her," he said. "I will be willing to help. Killer-san would not want her dead after he went out of his way ordering Zinc to save her."

Sloth paused again.

"I am a doctor. I do not hold bias against my patients," he stated coldly.

"That's good to know," Hiroki said, walked out, and resumed with his objective.

All throughout the morning, he shut himself inside the orlop.

* * *

Kidd looked nothing short of a very angry mummy, and looking like a mummy was exactly why he was angry.

"That bastard Red Dog," he kept hissing under his breath all throughout that afternoon, having taken a nap and woke to find himself so ridiculous-looking. Even his red fur coat couldn't make him appear any better. Still, he put on his lipstick and repainted his nails anyway, and went on to grab a bite to eat in the kitchen. The rest of his nakamas with the exception of Sloth and Chuckie were already in there for late lunch, all giving him glances as he sat down and piled his plate full. "What did I miss?"

"We all missed breakfast," Camry inputted. "That's why I made extra."

He scowled. "And?"

"And we have to see what we're going to do about those two, aren't we?" Mustang asked.

He frowned. "What two?"

"Arria and Perry," the gunner said.

Kidd gave him a look. "Didn't that bitch die?"

"Zinc saved her," Killer cut in, a book in front of him. "I told him to."

The captain froze and stared straight at him. Everyone tensed, seeing this.

"And why is that?" he hissed.

"Because she's a highly wanted bounty head of the World Government and I suspect that she might possess valuable information," the masked man explained, the only one not sensing the mutual nervousness as he scanned the book he was reading. "If I can get her to speak-"

"What the hell is a woman like her going to do on this ship?" Kidd snarled and slammed his hand down on the table all too fast. Killer looked away from the book and up at him, and his inside immediately clenched with a strange, ugly feeling that he hadn't felt since he was with Killer inside 'Red Lady' Cyrine's cave. His appetite was lost. A woman. A woman in the crew? And Killer- _his_ Killer- save her? Killer had liked women, he said so himself! The ugliness churned his stomach, producing the first hint of rage.

He was unaware that everyone else was also staring at him by this point.

"What the hell makes you think that she's going to do _anything_ on this ship?" the masked man, sensing his increasing fury, shot back with equal coldness. "She will do what I require her to do, and that is to talk and tell me what I need to know. Anything else is not of importance. If she wants to leave afterwards, then so-"

_Bam!_ The kitchen door flew open, snapping them from their fight. The two turned to see Sloth by the door way with a concerned look on his face.

"Master Kidd, Killer-san..." he said, and then slightly motioned towards Hiroki as well. "There's something about our... guest... that three of you need to see."

* * *

"What is this?"

It was less than thirty seconds, they had already hurried into the infirmary and right now had crowded around Arria's bed as a dim lamp shined on her sleeping person.

Or rather, her back.

She was topless, laid on her chest. Her long lavender blond hair was free from its french braid and her face no longer veiled by bandages. Her right hand was tucked inside the blanket just beneath her waist, but her left hand was left hanging out in the open.

Even before Kidd saw that marking, he first saw her left hand.

She had bandaged her face before, yes, but since his first sight of her concluded to him that nothing wrong with her facial features, it wasn't hard to disregard it as some stupid get-up. Then again, she also had both of her hands gloved. If she only had one gloved, that might have caught his attention before.

Her right hand looked fine, but her left hand was a work of monsters.

It reminded him of the dead body of the mummified Fuhrer inside Sparts' dome; the flesh was cooked, wrinkled and shriveled up like berries left out in the sun too long. The middle finger and the ring finger seemed as if they had once melted together into one, and someone then cut them apart again. No fingernail grew on any of the five; there were certain bumps and nasty deforms that didn't even make them look like human fingers. The burn affected her left arm all the way up near her elbow. It was an ugly, ugly hand.

If he had a hand like that, he would rather just chop it off. _How is she still able to move it?_

And then he turned his attention to her back, and asked his question. _"What is this?"_

It was a marking- a circle with four triangles around it, three on top, the last on bottom- and it was tattooed smack dab in the middle of her back.

"I've seen this marking somewhere before," Hiroki said. "I just can't recall where."

Killer nodded as well. "It resembles a lot the Jolly Roger of the Sunny Pirates. But... She's a human, not a fishwoman."

"It's a Hoof of the Flying Dragon," Sloth reminded both of them. "It's the marking that the Celestial Dragons brand on their slaves."

Silence.

The first and second mates exchanged glances of suspicion, startled.

"Well, I don't know who the fuck those Celestial Dragons are... You're basically telling me that she's a runaway slave?" Kidd concluded.

"Impossible!" Killer exclaimed before Sloth could answer. "Ever since Fisher Tiger climbed the Red Line and attacked the Holy Land thirteen years ago, Mariejois has been under maximum security. Unless she escaped during his rebellion, there is no way that a slave could have gotten out."

"In that case, she would not have an admiral after her head nor a bounty," Hiroki pointed out. "Thousands of slaves escaped. They could care less for a measly girl."

"No," Killer said, shaking his head. The pieces were all there, but nothing added up in his mind. It was just that nothing. He browsed and racked through everything he'd knew.

_Something else must have happened-_

"_Repel!_" _Wham!_

The masked man snapped back to reality, having been so lost in thought that he didn't notice her trying to plunge a dagger at him. Now, she was slowly getting up from the floor near the wall where Kidd had repelled her, her deformed hand clutching the blanket around her half naked body as she stared at them with absolute hatred. Just like that, she charged again, this time towards the shipwright instead, only to get knocked back by the man, sending her crashing against the edge of her bed.

"Blood Thief, stay calm!" Killer ordered with a snarl, drawing out his sword.

"Stay calm?" she echoed in shaky breaths, holding her weapon in front of her. She lasted moments before she lunged for his again. "Why the fuck should I, You bast-"

Killer didn't wait for her to finish, and kicked her out into the open. He chased after her as she ran to the front decks, the other three following close behind.

Her short dagger clashed with his long blade, ineffective as she was not only fighting with her none dominant hand, but also lacked self-control. To him, she had obviously not planned this surprise attack well at all. He effortlessly knocked the dagger from her grip, leaving her offense-less.

"Killer-san, what the hell are you doing?" Camry shouted as Kidd caught up just in time to witness the masked man swiping at her, cutting off strands of hair but never cutting flesh.

"You've got nowhere to run," Killer said, cornering her against the rail with the tip of his sword held at her throat, watching her as she kept glancing behind at the ocean. "Are you going to jump? We've been sailing for a half a day, you wouldn't get anywhere!"

"She's a woman!" the cook shouted. His brothers with the exception of Chuckie had all ran out as well. "Have you gone mad!"

To their surprise, Arria suddenly broke into a fit of laughter.

"And what can you pirates do to me that the World Government can't do?" she spat, glaring at the masked man. "Enslave me? Imprison me? Kill me? Go right ahead!"

"Don't be-" Camry tried to shout.

"Camry, calm down!" his older brother ordered.

Killer was far from giving up. "You will talk," he commanded. "You will tell me exactly what you know about the World Government, what got you your one hundred and twenty million bounty, and why is an admiral after you. You will tell us everything!"

She sneered at him as if his sword didn't even exist, much less than pointing straight at her throat. "Why the hell should I? Why don't get go to Mariejois and find out yourself, 'Massacre Man'?" Her face mocked him. "What makes you think that you can make me say anything? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Behind them, Kidd snarled and stepped up. "Watch who the fuck _you're talking_ to, bitch! He saved your sorry ass life!"

"And who the hell told him to save me?" she snapped right back. "You were _perfectly_ contented to see me dead before!"

Kidd's eyes flew wide with fury as he snatched a dagger from its sheath, about to end her life right then and there. The nerve of her talking back to him like that!

"Violence is hardly needed," Hiroki's voice cut in, stopping him in mid-movement. All the attention averted to the shipwright, who came out of the shadow carrying something in his arms. He stepped in plain sight, smiled, and the woman's blood ran cold. "Children learn terrible things from violence," he said, staring right at her. "It's horrible for their upbringings." The white was a stark contrast to his black kimono. "I believe that you forgot about someone, Blood Thief."

"Perry!" Arria cried, attempting to lung forward but was held back by Killer's sword.

"Oi!" Kidd shouted at Hiroki. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Children's bones are also very fragile. There are not much developed muscles to protect them from breaking," the shipwright continued, wrapping a hand around the girl's thin neck. "Don't panic, I am doing nothing wrong."

The cook looked as if he could kill right then and there. "'...Doing nothing wrong'? YOU FUCKING SON OF A-"

"Nii-san, please don't!" Chevy begged, holding him back.

"THAT'S A KID'S LIFE HE'S TOYING AROUND WITH!"

"I hate to say this," Mustang said, also holding him back. "But technically... He's _not_ doing anything wrong."

Hiroki ignored them.

"You will talk, or she will go," he said. "Your choice."

"...Monsters," she whispered, frozen in her spot, yet shaking.

He merely smiled back, the lack of sinister somehow making it more sinister.

Even Killer glared. "Sometimes, you _really_ piss me off, Hiroki," he stated with gritted teeth.

"You yakuza bastard!" Kidd snarled with rage, glowering. "If this shit doesn't work on her, your head's going to _roll!_"

"She will talk," he said in a deadpanned tone, watching her.

"You wouldn't..." she continued to whisper, her eyes not daring to even blink. "She's a child, you monster!"

His hand squeezed a little tighter around the neck.

"NO!"

Killer cornered her again. "You will talk," he commanded with a lot less fierceness than before.

" No..." Kidd watched as her body weakened, her legs shaking and sobs began racking her body. She collapsed on the ground, her hand over her face crying. The captain could tell that the masked man didn't like this at all. The sword was withdrawn, apparently no longer needed. They all waited as she wept. "I'll talk," she gave in, her voice timid and small from her tears. "What do you want to know? I'll talk."

"The whole reason why Akainu was on that island," Killer said. "Start with that."

"All right..."

There was another wordless moment as she fought to regain control of her breathing.

"Perry... She's my daughter," Arria began, her entire being quivering like an animal.

"We know that part already," Kidd said, frowning.

As if she'd never heard him, she continued, "I had her when... I was seventeen. That's the same age the World Government claimed that I broke into Mariejois... But I didn't. I had been in Mariejois since I was eight. As a slave." A sniff. She'd calmed a little. "...Perry's father was a tenryubito.

"I killed him."


	65. Flashback: Of Legacies and Lies

**Author's Note (MUST READ!): **I will not thank any of you reviewers for reviewing last time here, not because I don't appreciate your delightful reviews, but because...

This is an optional chapter

Why? Easy. It's not a chapter of the actual story and pertains little to nothing to the plot. I only wrote this because of one thing; I want to explain Arria's character. Why? Because I am the writer of this fic, thus I can. Obviously, you can tell by this point that she's going to be part of the crew. That being said, she's not my favorite OC, but I feel like it'd explain her better by giving people a first hand account of what exactly happened rather than having her telling it second-handed; there is a lot more to it other than the whole slavery-deal. And because I _know_ how much people hate female OCs' sob stories, I decided to save some of you the pain and not require this reading. XD

All reviewers are thanked in the next chapters. So if you want to skip this one, click that 'Next' button. That's why I spent eleven days away and updated two chapters at the same time.

**Credits:** This chapter is inspired and heavily influenced by Mommy Monst- I mean... Lady Gaga's single "Alejandro." Christianity (primarily Catholicism's beliefs) here is a very, _very_ distorted, _DL_-esqued (LOL!) version due to story needs. A round of applause goes to Emily Dickinson for a certain term of which I will be using.

This chapter is **offensive... To certain people.** If you read this, keep in mind: My characters are not me, they may or may not share my beliefs and opinions.

* * *

_To tell this story, the world must go back seventeen years in time. Seventeen years ago, Kidd was one year old, an infant without a home as he crawled the village streets outside, looking around for scraps of food as people stared and whispered at the baby. Killer was a four year old little boy, perching under a tree within his home's garden, reading his first picture-less book . Hiroki, six years old, had invented a new game of subtly manipulating his servants and bodyguards into doing his bidding in order to soothe his youthful muse. Chevy was born as the third son to the Chuck family much to the fascination of an eleven year old Mustang and an eight year old Camry. Sloth, with the rest of the Hell Kaiser crew, fought "Poison" Ivy, who rebelliously tried to escape the island. Zinc, within Sparts, had just graduated from his training team, finally becoming a true cadet. Seventeen years ago on Grand Line, there was a pirate ship and an eight year old girl with a bratty princess attitude and a bright smile..._

There were two Alejandros in Arria's life. One, she knew from her father, and the other from her mother. It was confusing and not confusing at the same time. Confusing because they shared the same name; not confusing because in her mind they were as different as different could be, and she had never messed one up with the other, ever. She could always tell which one was being talked about.

She had never met either Alejandros in person.

Her father's name was Lance. He had been the chief knight of King Artiur, former king of Mideve. All her life, she was told that Artiur was not a true king, but a violent monster who'd beaten his own queen mercilessly, treated his subjects and people with absolute totality, and was greedy, lustful and overall evil. Whenever Arria asked about him, she could see rage in her father's eyes as he spat.

"He was a beast in a man's body, a tyrant undeserving of your mother, and..." And Lance would always pause there before snarling in a hateful voice, "...a disgusting, vile _homosexual_."

Then he would press his lips white, and not speak for the rest of the day. The first time she'd asked, Martel Perry, the crew's first mate and her father's best friend since childhood who happened to be there during the conversation, had flinched, gaining a scared, hurt look on his face, so she always made sure to try asking when he wasn't around although she didn't know the reason behind his reactions. Perry was her godfather. She called him "Uncle", and swore to herself that she'll find and marry a man one day as handsome and funny as him. He was her favorite person in the entire world. Whenever she told him of her dream though, he'd burst out laughing at her, which didn't make her happy at all.

Lance was called the "King Slayer", because he had been the person who murdered Artiur. Most of the time, she'd heard of the title from other members of the crew. Her parents never spoke about it.

Alejandro was the name of her father's sword.

She'd seen Alejandro in battle, and thought that he was an absolute beauty. Not the blood part, of course, because she'd never seen the killing start due to the fact that her mother would always usher her inside whenever their ship was attacked, but often times, she'd be out long enough to see white feathers flying in the air like an angel from above was shredding her wings. The sword itself was attractive, forged with the shiniest metal, the hilt and sheath made with hard gold, and gemstones decorating in exotic patterns.

She had tried to steal it from her father once to play, and was caught.

"It's not a child's plaything, silly," Lance scolded her. "Alejandro don't just fight for anyone; it chooses its master, and for now, it's not you." He poked her on the nose, making her look down on his finger cross-eyed.

"Well, that's not fair!" she protested. "I want to see the feathers!"

"He won't do that for you either, stupid!" he barked back.

Arria scowled at him, stuck her tongue out and tried to reach for the sword again, only to find herself being dangled in the air by the back of her dress.

"Not a chance," Lance said to her, snickering. "You're a meter too short, princess!"

"No fair!" she hollered, waving her limbs around. "I'll tell Mother on you!"

He carried her over the the stairs between the poop deck and the main deck, sat down, and settled her in his lap. "As if!" he said with a snort, earning another defiant scowl from her. "Pipe down and listen up, pipsqueak, I'm going to tell you a story!"

Arria bright silver eyes immediately lit up, and she stilled herself on his leg and put her hands together like a good little girl; she loved stories.

"Long, long time ago," Lance began in a wistful voice. "There lived a strong, brave man; he was the strongest and bravest of all men of his generation, an honored knight who served his king with all the virtue and loyalty in his heart. His name was Alejandro.

"Many people called him 'Alejandro the Great' because of all the good deeds he'd done for his kingdom and people. He was a generous lord to the serfs on his land, a courageous, respectful warrior in both dueling and battling, and a beloved husband and father at home to his family. He had a kind heart, a holy, pure soul of which even God and angels praised and admired. He was, in the simplest term, a hero to mankind."

The girl merely nodded, motioning him to continue.

"During that age, the king's kingdom was a small one. That king was surrounded by larger neighboring empires, and constantly felt threatened because his lands and people were less wealthy and powerful than all the others. Fear of invasion was a constant worry on people's minds, for the world on the continent was in a warring state. More powerful nations defeated the less powerful ones. Smaller kingdoms were absorbed into larger countries with monarchs losing their crowns and heads left and right. Some became satellite nations to others and only kept their identities through yearly tributes. On top of that, it was a time where civilizations warred with not only other civilizations, but also wandering nomadic tribes that had no understanding of ownership to land and possession. For example, the tribe of Sloths, who were at the time very militaristic, high in population, and a high threat to humans everywhere. It was a century of instability and chaos.

"You see, Arria, the Red Line is our world's only continent. But our world is gigantic, and the Line goes around the earth as a thin strip of land in the form of a high mountain. The terrains were rough. The climate various too much from one part to the other. Traveling was impossible. If a man fell off the edge, he was never seen again. At that time, the countries could only occupy a certain place on the Red Line because powers were centered like circles, not stretched out like rubber bands. That was why there were so many of them in the first place; those circles of power could only extend so far.

"Alejandro, after returning from a battle, had a dream one night.

"He dreamt that the angel Gabriel came down from heaven and told him that God had destined the Red Line to be united under one kingdom- the kingdom of his king. The next day, he asked the king to call to court all the royal subjects and informed them the words of God. They prepared for him an army of five hundred thousand men, and set him off to conquest. Within a matter of months, all neighboring notions had fell into his king's control. The size of the kingdom quadrupled."

"Wait," his daughter interrupted. "But how? What did he do?"

"He fought them, of course. He went to war."

"You mean, he killed them?"

Lance glanced around twice, and she knew that he was making sure that her mother wasn't around. "And he did it wonderfully too, kiddo," he answered with a grin, making a cutting gesture with his hand and neck. "Off with their heads and all."

"That's horrible!" she cried. "Mother said that killing is horrible!"

He laughed. "And that's what you don't get, girly! He was a noble knight to his king, the king who was destined to rule the Red Line by the mandate of heaven. So essentially, he was conquering them for God. It was in the name of God; it was meant to be!"

She didn't get it at all, but let it go nevertheless.

"Two years passed, and half of the nations on the Red Line fell," the father resumed. "In another three years, all had fell, and he returned to the capital a hero of the highest honor. The people called him 'The Man Who Conquered Red Line.'

"And this sword which I hold in my very hand right now was the only sword he'd used in battle," he said, holding up Alejandro. "After his death, it was said that his soul went up to heaven, where he was made an angel to God, and all of his remains transferred right into his beloved weapon. By becoming a part of his sword, he can choose in After Life the successors of his legacy. Only the ones fit to wield this sword can hold it, and once in the hand of that rightful owner, this blade will yield to all his commands, protect his life as it did its original master, and will never fail him in battle. Since then, Alejandro had been passed down from men to men in his family, until it ended up with me eleven years ago after the death of your grandfather."

"...How do you know that Alejandro's in the sword?"

"Where do you think the feathers came from, dummy?"

Somewhere in her mind, skepticism pondered the validity of such tale, but Arria being the child she was had no choice but to accept what was told her to her as truth by her own parent. Another reason that she didn't find herself caring was due to the appearance of another presence on the deck that immediately stole her attention from her father, who went on blabbing about his training as a squire.

The presence was that of an exceedingly handsome man with jet black hair of wild curls, twinkling blue eyes and a delightful half-smile, half-smirk that formed boyish dimples on his cheeks. The man looked straight at her, and an euphoric grin bloomed on her face.

"Uncle Perry!"

Martel Perry opened his arms and she jumped right into them.

"What's he told about you this time?" her godfather teased.

"Alejandro the Great," she answered.

"Ah, the guy who bored me half to death during my history lessons..." he said with a false, dramatic sigh.

"You bastard! Don't interrupt me in the middle of my story!" Lance barked at his best friend.

"He already finished his story," Arria informed.

"DAMN YOU, RUNT!" Lance barked even more, shifting his eyes from the black-haired man to the girl with an annoyed glare. "AND WHY DOES MY OWN DAUGHTER LIKE YOU BETTER THAN ME?"

"Meh? Maybe it's 'cause you suck?" Perry snickered, flipping his middle finger at his captain and grinning, his tongue stuck out from the corner of his mouth in a mischievous manner. "Let's go, Arria! He's getting too old and boring for us young people!"

"WE'RE THE SAME AGE, ASSHOLE!"

* * *

Her mother, Genova, was the former queen of Mideve, former wife of the deceased King Artiur, and a beautiful woman with lavender blond hair and blue eyes. Arria had her silver eyes from her father, but she'd always thought that her mother's blue pupils were a lot prettier. They were soft, shadowed by long eyelashes, and held a certain sorrowful look to them. It didn't make her mother seem petite or helpless; it made her seem wiser, as if she knew somethings about the world that the men in the crew didn't.

The reason why her mother was no longer queen was because she and Lance had eloped and were exiled from the kingdom for the death of Artiur, whom Lance always addressed, during the rare times he had, as a tyrant, a bastard unworthy of his throne, and a homosexual.

She did not get why her father hated him for being a homosexual, not even knowing what it meant at first.

_"That means that he was a sinner! A beast! He treated your mother like she was trash, always humiliating her in front of his subjects, neglecting her, even beating her! Him? He ran around with dozens of eunuchs, even giving one of them your mother's title of the Royal Consort, purposely disgracing her! And he had the nerve to sentence her to death__ while she was pregnant with you__ for being with me? He deserved death!"_

Her mother had said when she'd asked, _"Artiur was simply a man who did not like women, and I was a woman, so he did not like me. Don't mind your father; he's unreasonable."_

Another thing that Arria noticed was the fact that Genova and Perry never spoke much despite living together on the same ship. There was always a tense air when they were in the same room. Other than formal words, they'd exchange nothing but impassive nods and stares. Arria suspected that they didn't like each other, which was too bad.

Every morning, Genova would get up and face the direction of the sun if the day allowed it, or she would face the direction of the Red Line if it wasn't there. For some reason, she was always able to tell which direction was which even though this was Grand Line and navigation was near impossible. Then she would touch her right hand to her forehead, to her chest, to her left shoulder and to her right shoulder all the while chanting under her breath with closed eyes, "_Dei et sanctimoniae causarum vivo. Vitam habentis gratia ago. Caerimonia mihi contingat. Amen, Pater."_ (1)

She was the only one on the whole ship who performed such a ritual. She never forced anyone else to do it with her, and never explained until her daughter spoke up one day.

"It is a prayer to His Immortality," her mother said as she brushed her hair in the mirror.

Arria wondered why she wouldn't just say 'God.'

"Because I am a sinner," Genova answered her. "I have betrayed Alejandro's love and trust in me. I have no right to pronounce His title."

She did not understand, just like she didn't understand why it was wrong to kill at certain times and all right to kill at others, or why Perry always found a way to excuse himself whenever her father got on the topic of the homosexual king.

"We are no longer in Mideve, Arria, we're on the seas of sailors and island-dwellers, and you will grow up with them. They have no such religion," her mother said. "That is why I do not teach you the way of His Immortality. If you wish to learn someday, you must do so yourself."

"But why?"

"Because religions are powerful and dangerous ideas."

She didn't understand that part either.

"Well... I want to be powerful and dangerous," she said with all the unintended innocence as Genova moved on to her hairpins.

The woman turned around and bent down to her level.

"Alejandro is the Father, Fernando is the Son, Roberto is the Spirit," she said to the child. "Together they are one. They made up of the entity that is His Immortality. You've heard of Lord Fernando's odyssey through Red Line." The child nodded. "He traveled through the harsh lands, over mountaintops to spread the words of good. He healed, saved countless people, and brought the world to the light. He died for the sins of mankind."

"Uh huh?" Arria waited for more. She had heard it times before in longer versions from other people in the crew, but even so, she was still confused by the story. None of them knew any more than Lord Fernando's odyssey either. They always told her something about the Book, which one of them lent her before. She had tried to read it, but it made even less sense and bored her to the point where she was dozing off on the third page at every attempt. The words in there were really weirdly spelled.

"When you're older, you will understand if you choose the path," was all she got.

It frustrated her.

"Well, where's God then?" she asked, deciding that she wasn't going to anything else from her mother.

Genova gestured to her to come to the window, which she opened.

"You see the sky?"

The girl looked up. The morning was a bright one, the sun climbing steadily up its way with fluffy clouds and blue background. "Yes."

"He's up there," came the reply. "In heaven."

Arria squinted, thinking that she had missed him because she didn't look hard enough, and saw nothing. It rendered her even more perplexed.

_But the sky's empty._

* * *

There was a fifty million beri bounty on her father's head. From what she heard, Mideve was a strong ally of the sea-world's World Government, and after finding out that the murderer of their late king had escaped to West Blue, a poster was immediately issued to comply with the kingdom's demand. When Arria was five years old, Gol D. Roger was executed, which started the Golden Age of Pirates. Knowing that it wouldn't matter what kind of lives they led, Lance led his family and men onward and raised a Jolly Roger upon their ship in search for One Piece.

Now three years later, the crew was in Grand Line.

Martel Perry had a twenty million bounty on his head for being an accomplice of the king's assassination. Before that, he was a nobleman with a vast province as well as a knight of high status and respect, much like his best friend.

Arria was fascinated by knighthood and wars.

"It's not that easy to become a knight," Perry told her. "You have to go through _harsh_ training and prove yourself worthy."

She was not fazed. "Meh, sounds easy enough to me."

"Ah, but that's because you don't know. The initiation of knighthood is the worst! In order to get the king to accept you, you have to-" He lowered and whispered in her ear for a good minute. "...pull down your pants and run around the streets naked with a pole sticking in between your buttocks for an entire day. And if the pole falls out, they imprint your ass with a giant permanent stamp that says 'I'm a pounce who wishes to have a pole up my ass'."

She shrieked.

"Hahahaha!"

"That's sick! I don't want to be a knight no more!"

"Ay ay, I'm just kidding, stupid!" "WHAT? YOU LIED!" "-But's it's all good in the end because the ceremony was awesome!" Perry said, leaping to his feet and looked upwards with pride. "I can still remember my time. For once, I was in the center of attention instead your jerk of a father! I was on red carpet, literally! Here, here, get into pose. I'll show you how it went. I'll be the king and you be me."

He made Arria got down on one knee.

"Now you plunge your sword onto the ground-" He stuck it into the floorboard for her. "-But don't do it too much because if you can't pull it out later, it'd be really embarrassing. Then you put a hand over your heart...Your _right_ hand!" "But you know that I'm left-handed!" "Doesn't matter! The right hand is the hand of God, the left is the Devil's. You never put your left hand over your heart, especially when you swear loyalty to your king!" He adjusted her hand. "And lastly, bow your head. Now repeat after me.

"I, Sir Arria, do so swear, in the name of Lord Fernando, to serve my king in peace and war." She repeated that.

"To uphold honor, bravery, and loyalty in my knighthood." She repeated that too.

"Or so God help me to die a pathless death for my sins." She repeated after him a third time.

There was a sound of a blade being taken out, and she looked up to see him holding a dagger above her with an evil grin. The sharp edge twinkled by the sunlight. "Now, I as king will take this dagger and cut you on your left shoulder-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaah! Nooooooooo!"

"Oi, oi! Calm down, I'm not going to do it for real!"

"...You... You lied again?"

"No, that's actually what happened," Perry answered, then pulled on the collar of his shirt to reveal a deep scar on his left shoulder . "See? And it doesn't heal either. Isn't it cool?"

It took another while to calm her down again.

"Sheesh, you big crybaby," he scoffed at her whimpering self. "Are you trying to get me in trouble with your parents?"

"It's your fault!" she said back.

"What!" he cried, outraged. "I was only trying to show you how its done!"

"Who cares? It's not like I'll be serving any kings in my life," she grumbled.

He sighed and lay himself down on the ground face up.

"...Uncle Perry, if being a knight involves being loyal to your king, then why did you help my parents kill him and escape? Didn't you jeopardized your life? And your after life? Is my father that great of a friend to you?"

"Ah... that." She saw his lips curving into a smile again, but his arm covered his eyes. "It's no big deal, really, since I'm going to Hell regardless."

* * *

Then, it happened too fast.

Just days after her practice of acceptance into knighthood, a storm beat upon the sea and showered them with lightning and rain, the waves rocking the unstable water. No sooner than ten minutes as everyone was preparing for the unannounced storm, a small fleet of three marine warships of a rear admiral and two lieutenants sailed straight into them, and in no time surrounded their much small pirate ship.

She was, as always, ushered into her parent's bedroom as swords clashed and guns fired outside. The rain splattered on the window like hail made it even harder for her to see out.

"Arria, stop trying to look," her mother kept shouting at her. "They'll be fine!"

"But-"

_CLAAAAAASH!_ the thunder roared as the door was kicked apart by three men. She ran for her mother's arms, shrieking with fright, and looked up moments later to see the marines surrounding the woman and roughly pushing them out. The rain drenched their clothes and bodies instantly and lightning and thunder crackled and clashed overhead.

Lance's head was on the deck, separated from his body, his blood streaming through the cracks in the floorboards. Alejandro was at the foot of the rear admiral. Another marine held out the two bounty posters of her father and godfather. Blood drained from her face at the sight, and it took moments for her brain to progress and her voice to cry out in fear. Her mother pulled her closer, muffling her with the cloth of her wet dress.

"The 'King Slayer', and Lord Martel Perry of Southwestern Voshire," one of the lieutenants, who held the posters, identified. "Originated from Red Line. They assassinated their king, thus by having committed treason. Sentenced to execution if captured."

The rear admiral nodded, carelessly stepping over her father's body. "The fifty million bounty head is dead," he said, then looked over to Perry, who was being choked by a chain and held at gunpoint. "But we have the twenty million left still for public sentence."

"What are you going to do?" Genova spoke up, and his eyes went to her.

"They have a woman on board?" he muttered, and looked down at Arria. "And a child?"

"Former queen of the murdered king, and the child is a bastard," the same lieutenant said.

_A bastard? _"Mother?" she whispered between sobs.

The rear admiral suddenly smirked and stepped closer to them, his gazed fixed on the cold queen. "Your lover's dead and you're not even fazed?" he commented.

"I do not show tears around strangers," she replied stoically. "The water on my face is rain."

"Kukuku...Truly a lady among beauties. What I heard about the elegance of Midevian women does not disappoint," he said with a sadistic chuckle. Her eyes flashed with rage and continued to glare him down. His smirk faltered and faded at her expression, then turned dark as he gave the order that began the prelude to Arria's nightmare. "...Kill off the rest, lock Martel Perry up for execution, and send the woman and the child to Sabaody Archipelago! Shichibukai Doflamingo will make better use of them."

The thunder clashed.

* * *

_Achoo!_ She sneezed, blowing dusts with the movement of air.

They were in cages, her mother and her in one, Perry in another. Surrounding them were bodies of livestock, all cooped within this one room. The smell of their manure was unbearable; her nose would only allow her to take small breaths lest she choked.

"Where are we going?" she asked, having lost count of how many times she'd asked it, not that she cared anymore.

"Somewhere," Genova replied her.

"Where? I don't like it here. They... They're not going to kill us, are they?"

There was a pause.

"I don't know, Arria. Go to sleep."

But she didn't listen. "Mother, I don't want to die."

"Tch, this isn't that bad, crybaby," Perry said before her mother could get a word in. They turned to the man in the other cage, seeing a grin on his face. Genova eyed him coldly, while Arria stared, feeling something very off about that grin- for once, she didn't like the sight of it. "This is life; as long as you keep living, it's all good. Hell is a lot worse. That's where your father has gone to; that's where I'll be going once I die, and that's where you'll be in once you die too-"

"Martel!" her mother snapped. "What do you think you're saying?"

"See, Arria? Your mother knows it too, that's why she doesn't want to tell you," her godfather continued on. "We're all going to Hell; our entire lot. And when we get there, we'll burn for eternity for our sins. Nothing in life can compare. Nothing. And that's the truth."

"_Shut up!_" Genova shouted, her hands gripping the bars. "_Stop it, Martel!_"

She began to cry. "I don't want to go to Hell..." "Arria, you're not going to Hell!" "I don't want to die! I don't want to be burned!" Her shoulders were grabbed and her body was shook. "Calm down, it's not true!" "I want Father! I want to live! I'll be good! I don't want to go to Hell!" "Uncle Perry's lying. Stop crying! You're a child, Arria, Alejandro won't send you to Hell!"

"I'm not lying!" Perry snarled, making both the mother and the daughter jump. "Fuck you and your God-fearing self, Genova! We're going to Hell, so what? You're a sinner, I'm a sinner, Lance was a sinner! Fuck, everyone sinned, so we're all going to Hell together-"

"_SHUT UP_!"

He shut up, surprisingly, yet glaring at her with hatred as she let go of her daughter and approached as close as their cages would allow them to.

"I am," she began. "An adulteress. Before that, I repented all my wrongdoings, I prayed for forgiveness and turned back to the light, but for Arria, I'll be more than happy to burn forever. So will Lance. I've known you for a long time, Martel, and you've resented me for as long as you knew me. We both why that is. It's the same reason why you became bitter and indifferent to Hell, because you've convinced yourself that you're destined for it when you're really not!"

Perry looked scared all of a sudden.

The girl, by this point, was too fearful to continue crying.

"Martel..." her mother muttered. "He never hated you. You know he won't."

_What are they talking about?_

"You're telling me that after eight years? Eight years of having to look at you every day?" the man hissed. "Eight years of having his daughter asking him over and over why he hate the king so much! Eight years of him putting me down to the level of beasts and telling me with his back turned on me that people like me deserve to die! Now you have the audacity to tell me that he wouldn't have hated me, _Your Majesty_?"

He spat on the ground.

"You don't know how I feel! I was perfectly all right with him not seeing me at all! I thought that if I can just not tell him, if we remain the way we were, then being by his side wasn't that bad! I didn't care because I thought that even though he's not my kind, he wouldn't hate me!"

_What are they saying?_ Arria breathed deep and coughed, her head was dizzy. _I don't understand._

"Then he saw you." He didn't stop there. "I tried to talk him out of it. You were the king's woman! I told him that he'll die, I threatened to turn him in myself! I was even on the verge of risking everything and confess, then you got pregnant and he got the splendid idea to kill his own king! Yes, I hate you! I hate your guts and I'm happy that you're going to Hell with me!"

Silence.

The child didn't dare to move or make a sound. She felt faint.

"Are you done?"

"If you hadn't lusted back, the only person who would've gone with the Devil would've been me," Perry said, ignoring her. His shoulders were shaking. "Goddamn it..." He hung his head, letting his face shade by the shadows. It didn't hide the tears that came a second later. "But he'd have married sooner or later, ain't I right?" His voice had fell to a hush. "And I'd have to marry...I'd have hated any woman that he could have been with!"

"I did not lust," her mother said quietly. "Nor did you."

"Yes I did! I lusted in the vilest way possible," he said back. "After another man."

The door sudden flew open.

"Get the bounty head," one of the lieutenant commanded. "We're here at the island picked for his execution. Let's make this quick!"

Because of the light exposed from the outside, Arria could see clearly the tear stains on her godfather's handsome, but scarred face, and the watered eyes on her mother as Genova seized the last couple of seconds.

"Martel, you listen to me," she whispered loudly, her voice rising higher. "I did not lust for him. I loved him, and you loved him as I did! You did not have a choice when you fell in love! My sin is not lust, it's betrayal! I am a traitor to my people, I turned my back against my husband and king! I bore a child out of wedlock, and I ruined my daughter's life! That's what I'm going to Hell for!" She reached out, grabbed his arm, and held on for as long as she could before the soldiers tore them apart. He was shaking, unable to look at her. "Love is not a sin, you heard me? LOVE IS NOT A SIN!"

_Uncle Perry...?_ Arria held the cage bars, staring at his leaving figure.

He never glanced back.

* * *

She was very confused. She should be crying for her father's death, and probably her godfather's, but all she found herself doing was staring at the blank wall for the rest of the journey. Even the horrid smell of animal manure had stopped bothering her. In her mind, she recalled over and over what had happened, but couldn't make sense of any of it. Her mother held her at all times.

Finally, after who knew how many days, someone came and hustled them out, cuffed them both and put them into a movable cage. They traveled through the island in the dead middle of the night. Bubbles were coming out from the ground, and giant trees were everywhere. It looked as if it could be a fun place. It didn't last long. Soon, they were stuff back into a jail cell, the bar door closing behind them as men careless tossed them in after pinning numbers on their clothes. Her mother was nineteen. She was number thirty-two.

"Excuse me sir," she heard her mother ask someone. "But can you tell me where we are?"

The old man drank his gourd of booze. "Ah..." he sighed, looked up at Genova through round glasses, and smiled. "What a lovely vision in this gloomy place! Hahaha!" he exclaimed with laughter. "Pardon me, my lady- Oh, is that your daughter with you?"

"Yes she is," the woman answered.

"Nice to meet you two. I'm new to here, living with my friend Shakky, but then I got careless... You may call me Ray-san, I suppose," the old man said. "As for where you are, you're in the Human Auction shop on Grove One, about to be bid off. I wish I can help, but I don't want to make a scene. The auction starts in a few minutes or so. You two got in just in time for them to assign numbers."

Arria saw Genova's lips pressing together.

"My daughter and I will be sold separately?" she asked.

The smile faded from his face. "Most likely."

At once, the ashen woman turned to her, shaking awake from her trance. Ray-san watched on with interest. "Arria, are you all right? Are you there? Don't sleep," she commanded in a frantic yet controlled tone.

"I'm not sleeping."

"Good. I want you to listen to me, and remember everything I'm about to tell you," she said. "Mother's probably not going to be with you anymore-" "Why?" Her heart jumped out of pattern for the first time in days. "They're going to sell us to other people. Other families. Arria, you remember what I told you about Alejandro, Fernando and Roberto, don't you? You remember what I said about God?"

She stared with shock. "Mother, you said 'God.'"

"Yes, I did-"

"But you said that you can't say 'God'!"

"Listen to me!" the woman begged, silencing her. "God has orders. To be with God, you have to be faithful to him, loyal to him, and have hope and believe in him! You need to accept his love! Only then will he save you! Are you understanding me?"

"...Yes ma'am," she answered in a small voice.

Outside, the auction had started. Number one was sold.

"Do you know the prayer, Arria? Do you know how to sign the cross of Lord Fernando?"

She nodded. "But I don't know what they mean-"

"They are symbols of Alejandro, child," Genova explained. "They are your ways of speaking to him and expressing your faith. Promise Mother that you'll sign the cross and say the prayer every day. Promise me that you'll believe in God!"

"But why-"

"Please just promise me!"

She nodded again.

Number seven was sold.

"Now I want you to repeat the Ten Commandments of the Book! Never forget them. Repeat after me as I say them."(2)

Number eight sold and number nine up. She nodded for the umpteenth time that day.

"'Thou shalt not have other gods before He nor shalt thy deny He.'" Number nine was gone. "'Thou shalt not steal.'" Number ten. "'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'" Number eleven. "'Thou shalt not take the holy names in vain.'" Number twelve. "'Thou shalt honor thy father and mother, as honor thy master, thy king, thy betters.'" Number thirteen. "'Thou shalt not betray.'" Number fourteen. "'Thou shalt not lie.'" Number fifteen. "'Thou shalt not fall to vanity.'" Number sixteen. "'Thou shalt not take thy own life, for it is a sin against He.'" Number seventeen. "'Thou shalt not kill.'"

Number eighteen. Guards were opening their cell.

"Mother, where are you going?" she asked, starting to cry.

"Arria, you've done nothing wrong, you're innocent! God loves you!" They wrestled her out from the cell. People were snickering at her. "Believe in God and he'll save you!" "Mother-" "Don't forget the cross and the prayer every day!" "No-" "You're a babe of Alejandro. Love him and believe in him, and he will love you back and save you! Thou shalt not take thy own life, Arria! Believe in God!" "Mother-"

Number nineteen was sold.

It felt like a horrible, horrible dream. She didn't even know when she was up on stage, couldn't even register the spotlights shining on her even though she could see perfectly. She couldn't tell who had bought her, or for how much.

She couldn't find her mother. Where was her mother?

* * *

In a blink of an eye, eight years passed. She was sixteen.

Arria learned that she was bought by Saint Lukyfer. He was from the main branch of the large extending family of World Nobles, the first son, in fact. He had thirty-two wives, slaves numbering in the six hundreds, four chins and some sort of mental condition that affected him both intellectually and physically; it wasn't unexpected, his parents were siblings who interbreed to "keep the bloodline pure." But she had just been one of his slaves. She had a tattooed hoof on her back to prove it, not that she ever wanted to.

Some times later after the auction, she learned that Queen Genova had been bought by ambassadors from Mideve, and was brought back to her former kingdom. She was imprisoned for a month, paraded on the streets of the capital city, being stoned by passersby, and finally sentenced to hanging. It was rumored that her skeleton was still there. Martel Perry was executed by beheading.

Although the treatment of the slavery was far worse than anything she'd imagined, even worse than the Hell of which Perry had described, she was a very lucky slave. She learned cleaning skills faster than most, and almost never spoke, therefore, didn't get beaten as much. She was female, and did not endure the hard labors that the males had. She was human, so she did not catch anyone's interest due to her normalcy. And for a while, she was too young and undeveloped for Lukyfer's taste. But then growing started, and one day, she was serving him tea.

Her chains rattled as she walked towards him with the tray. She settled it down and poured out a cup, all the while bowing her veiled head.

Those past years, she had allowed herself to hollow out, and made herself be the part of a mechanic human machine, lifeless, speechless, indifferent. If she show any emotion, they'd beat her, and she'd break down, and they'd beat her even more for crying.

Saint Lukyfer sipped his tea, and spat it out inside his helmet.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded, shifting in his chair and trying to relax his obese body. The tea cup was thrown onto the ground. "Disgusting! Who dare to serve me commoner's tea! I'll put that person to death!"

His subordinate in suit merely bowed. "I shall bring you new tea and a change of suit, Lukyfer-sama."

"I DON'T WANT TEA ANYMORE! GET ME COFFEE! COFFEE!" he shouted, slamming his fist on the glass table.

"Yes, Lukyfer-sama."

There had been only one time since the beginning when she'd broke down in tears, and that was after the Fisher Tiger incident. Fortunately for the thousands of slave that escaped, they were free. Coincidentally and unfortunately for her, it was at the same time that her master and his immediate family decided to take a tour around the world, thus, leaving Mariejois. She could have escaped.

But she held on.

For God, for her mother.

_"God loves you, Arria."_ Her voice would echo in her head everyday as she woke at dawn in her own little corner in the room she shared with about fifty other slave females of all different races and ages. Every morning, she'd face the bar window at the sky, signed the cross, and whispered under her breath as Genova had and told her to, "_Dei et sanctimoniae causarum vivo. Vitam habentis gratia ago. Caerimonia mihi contingat. Amen, Pater."_ She held on to the belief that God will send her a miracle and save her.

Still to this day, she never fully understood her religion, but it made her feel more than just nothing, and she knew, as her mother told her, that Father Alejandro loved her.

And no matter how miserable she was, she obeyed the commandments of God; suicide was a sin. Her mother said so.

"Stop!" the Celestial Dragon commanded, halting the man in suit, who turn around, never ceased bowing. "Who's slave is this? Take off her veil!"

Lukyfer was looking at her.

Her thin veil was taken off, exposing her. The Tenryubito gaped at her face- a splitting image of her mother with her father's eyes- and his hands reached down to grope her developing chest, stroking along the curves of her waist, ogling. She went as still as a statue.

"She is your own. You bought this slave eight years ago when she was eight years old, Lukyfer-sama," the suit explained. "Since she didn't have any use and you did not give an order, we assumed the best and put her to work with your other female slaves. She is now sixteen."

"Perfect!" the obese man chortled, clapping his hammy hands together. "Get my wife number twenty-seven out of my bedroom and prepare this girl for me tonight!"

_Monster_, was the first thought that came to her head. Her eyes remained empty even as Lukyfer continued to ogle at her. She didn't allow herself to shiver, lest she might displease him and get beaten. Little did she understand at the time that she should have acted out and got beaten instead.

_I am a child of God. I am innocent. I've done nothing wrong. He loves me, Mother, you told me so._

"So young, so pretty!" Her master laughed, drooling slightly as he touched her. "Ohohoho!"

_So why is Alejandro doing this to me?_

She had always thought that getting beaten was the worst; convinced that their whipping was unbearable. That night, she learned something new, something that even pain could not hope to dehumanize her as they stripped her naked and placed her on the soft bed like they would do pigs into a pen. The utter shame ate her, chewed her up, and spat her back out like she was below shit. The only thing she remembered from that night was him prying her legs apart and hitting her.

She imagined her mother being carried on the street, cuffed in a cage, the people throwing stones at her and calling her "whore", "tramp", "harlot", "witch." She pictured her with her hair loose, climbing the steps to the rope, placing it around her neck as people watched her from below, then kicking herself off and letting the rope gag and choke her to death. Her mother, being the kind of person she was, had probably not made a single sound. Then Arria thought back down to the crowd in her imagination, and found herself filling with hate for them. Who were they to laugh? Genova was purer than any of them! Who were they to judge her by one mistake?

Her mind nullified the pain, voided Lukyfer's existence, and rendered everything pleasure-less. Once it was done, she found herself being tossed back into the slave room without clothes; she must have disappointed him.

In the dark, she smiled. Serve him right.

_"Thou shalt not commit adultery,"_ her mother's voice rang.

She began praying for God's forgiveness.

* * *

God must have answered her. She was pregnant.

It took all the self-control she'd build up over the years to hold down her terror. What could this mean? Did God declare her a sinner by sending her down the same path as her mother? Did he not forgive her? Didn't he understand that she was forced, that she had no choice? And what could this mean for her as a slave? Will they kill her? They'd already beaten her for constantly throwing up and slowing down her cleaning. What else was there to do? And what about the baby?

It took a while, but she managed to hear back from different sources. From the higher ups, the non-slave caretakers of the Tenryubitos, they told her that she was allowed to have the child, but said nothing else. From other slaves, she heard that pregnancies amongst female slaves weren't uncommon. If anything, it was a good thing.

_"Why?"_ she'd asked them.

_"Because there's a chance that your master will make you a concubine,"_ they'd answered. _"You have his blood and flesh within you. They value their own blood and flesh."_

Forgetting what kind of people Lukyfer and his family were, the rumor fueled her hope and changed her outlook towards the obstacle altogether. From the fear that God had rejected her, Arria clung onto the idea that this baby was the miracle that she'd been waiting for. Yes, her child would save her from this, just like her mother had told her; if she loved and believed in God, he would love and save her. And so she held on, and carried it for ten months.

She broke water ten days after her seventeenth birthday, collapsing on the ground in the middle of cleaning the Grand Hall. The overseers immediately rushed over, thinking that she was lazing, and lashed out against her as she clutched her swollen abdomen in the torment, screaming. It wasn't until one of the caretakers in suits came upon them minutes later did they rush her off.

The birthing process took over a day and a half. During those times, she'd screamed until her throat and lungs were raw.

Then, there was another storm.

It was very different from the storm of the day when marines captured her father's ship. In fact, there were sounds of rain but no rain, sounds of thunder but no thunder. And she could see no lightning at all.

The thunder was deafening.

_"What the hell is this thing!"_ it roared; it sounded very much like Lukyfer's voice. _"You call this my child? THIS IS A MONSTER! LOOK AT MY HAIR! DOES MY HAIR LOOK WHITE TO YOU? ARE MY EYES RED?"_

_"Lukyfer-sama, this baby is an albino. It has a genetic disorder-"_

_Bam!_ Goes the sound of a gun.

_"How dare you insult me, you worthless commoners! As if my pure blood can produce something like that! It's not mine! It's a spawn of the Devil, I tell you! Get that thing out of my sight! Kill it! I SAID 'KILL IT!' KILL HER TOO!"_

She wished the thunder would stop. It hurt her head.

Then the rain whispered in segments, _"...'King Slayer''s sword... a Devil Fruit... identified as the Hane Hane no mi... In Vegapunk's lab...But no one can touch it... said the demon of the fruit developed its own personality after seven hundred years... suspect it might be blood connected... His daughter had a baby? ...We'll take the baby... We'll take her as well... Don't tell Saint Lufyker, she's suppose to be dead..."_

When it was over, Arria found herself on top of a white bed, cuffed with supplements inserted into her veins through bags and needles. Looking around, there were people in white labcoats, monitors and computers lined up against the walls.

Somehow, the storm in her dream seemed real.

"Where am I?" she whispered through the oxygen mask, waiting for the nearest person to answer her. The woman with auburn hair wearing a lab coat did not turn around. Maybe she didn't hear her. Arria took this time to observe her surrounding a little more carefully. She saw the monitor that kept track of her heartbeats. Nearby, there was a smaller bed with a baby lying on it.

She froze, her eyes grew wide.

_What is going on? _

The baby was pure white from the skin to the tiny mop of hair to the color of its eyelashes. It blended in near perfection with the white sheet of the bed. The sight made her whimper. Was it dead? Did they kill it? That was impossible! They said that the baby would save her! They said that Lukyfer's people valued their own flesh and blood! It was supposed to be God's miracle!

Responding to her noises, the scientists immediately rushed over and took the numerous needles out of her system, bandaging her up. In the background, she heard someone talking into a Den Den Mushi.

"Get her ready," the woman who didn't pay attention to her before commanded the team. "Dr. Vegapunk will see her soon. Get the sword out!"

"My baby, what's wrong with it?"

They ignored her.

Some of them were moving furnitures around.

"Got the sword?"

_A sword? _It took her a while to remember after they shipped Alejandro out from hiding, and longer to react. The familiar weapon she hadn't seen in nine years was displayed in front of her. She stared, entranced and shocked, and pushed them aside as she got up from bed and wobbled towards it. _Father's sword? Why do they have it?_

"Get away from there!" one of the men ordered, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She yanked herself from his grip. "Don't touch me," she said weakly. "That's my father's sword." No more than three steps, she collapsed on her weak knees, unable to find the energy to stand.

Someone else clapped their hands, making her turn to their attention. The leader of the team stood before her, a plate in her hand.

"Hungry?" The woman in lab coat smiled at her, beckoning her closer with the food. "You must eat. Otherwise you won't have the strength." Arria didn't bother to ask her why. The slave scrambled over and took the bread and devoured it like a starved wolf. It tasted stale, was hard to chew and swallow, and had molds in some parts; it was the best food she'd eaten in years. A hand patted her on the head like she was a dog, muttering her to slow down lest she choke. "There there..." Water was handed to her.

"You see the infant there?" the woman next whispered to her, recieving a nod. "That's your child. It has albinism, that's why it's so white... Don't worry, Saint Lukyer no longer thinks that you're alive. You're not his slave anymore. You and your child will live here with us as part of Dr. Vegapunk's science team, all right?"

"...What am I suppose to do?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her baby. She couldn't tell if it was male or female. The diaper covered the genital.

The smile widened. "Help us."

* * *

She did not like the woman's smile. Something told her that she should run away. That very notion frightened her. Since the first few months she was bought, the idea of running away was beatened out of her as it was every slave on Mariejois. Alejandro's commandment "Thou shalt honor thy father and mother, as honor thy master, thy king, thy betters" stuck clear in her head, reinforcing the overseers' messages. She was convinced that even though slavery was miserable, it was in a way meant to be for her. But whenever questions came up, she forced herself push them all away, afraid that she might end up hating God. God loved her.

They were her betters.

_But why are they better than me? Why does my existence mean less than theirs?_

Her master flashed through her mind. _Why is someone like _him_ better?_

"Now, Arria," the auburn-haired woman said to her. They had her surrounded, pen and papers out to take notes. "What can you tell us about your father's sword?"

"It has the soul of Alejandro the Great," she replied, recalling exactly what Lance had taught her. They looked at each other with skepticism as she went on. "He was the man who conquered Red Line. He was my ancestor. When he died, he became an angel to God, and his remains transferred into his sword. That's why when my father fought with it, there were feathers."

The scientists had all stopped taking notes. A couple of them took deep breaths. One muttered under his breath, "Delusional girl."

"Then," their leader said. "He said nothing about the sword eating a Devil Fruit?"

"...A Devil Fruit?" Arria scanned her mind. Yes, she'd heard of those fruits. Some Tenryubitos force-fed such things to their slaves for amusement. They turned normal humans and creatures into absolute monsters.

"The Hane Hane no mi," the woman went on. "Tell us, how did a sword eat a Devil Fruit, and why won't this sword allow any of us to touch it?"

"Alejandro picks his wielder," she said, "and he's a hero of God, not the product of the Devil."

The female scientist's smile slackened, her eyes grew cold. "Enough myths, my dear. You must know _something_."

"I told you everything I know."

She stepped back, looked at her teams who began a discussion in mutters amongst themselves; "We've gathered enough notes and data over the nine years to continue the research. This girl's gibberish contributed nothing." "The Devil Fruit developed its own personality, that's why we were rejected." "Is it Haki?" "This could be a breakthrough, understand? If we can figure this out, we may know how to properly engineer Devil Fruit abilities into the Pacifistas." "We gather everything we can. Dr. Vegapunk will handle the rest." "Tell her to pick it up."

The suggestion stopped all of them dead in their tracks.

"Tell the girl to pick up the sword!"

They approached her once more, the kind, eerie smile was back on the lead scientist' face. "Go on, my dear." The smile terrorized her. She began to shake, scared. The beautiful Alejandro tempted her, _they _tempted her. "Pick up your father's sword."

Temptation.

Alejandro wouldn't tempt her. God wouldn't.

_Devil... Hell... _Perry's face came to her_. "Hell is a lot worse."_

_"I don't want to go to hell!"_ her eight year old self cried as Genova tried to comfort her. _"I'll be good!"_

"What is she mumbling? Why isn't she picking up the sword like we told her to?"

"No," Arria said as she choked on a cry, shrinking back from them. _This was Hell all along?_ She fell off the chair, backing away from them. "Monsters, all of you are monsters." Her stomach clenched.

_If this is Hell, then why did God put me here?_

_Mother?_ Her mother was nowhere to be seen. _I thought that he loves me._

"Pick up the sword. Let us see if you can do it," the woman commanded, stepping closer only to find her backing off further. "Get the marines in! Looks like we need to hold her down."

_Mother!_

Footsteps thundered down the halls heading her way. In the mist of her panic, Arria scrambled onto her feet and started to run, crashing into electronics and furnitures. The scientists headed after her as she circled the laboratory blindly, knocking aside whatever in the way. Shouting rang behind her. The door burst down and in came marines in uniforms with rifles.

"Get that girl! Get her!"

Her eyes frantically glanced at Alejandro, and lunged for the sword as bullets fired. Her right hand grabbed the hilt, feathers shot out, and cut at her, making her drop it, howling with pain.

_I can't hold my father's sword? _

"Do not kill her! Wound her, just wound her! We want her alive!"

"Arms away! Swords out!" the marine commander shouted, and the soldiers switched weapons.

_Alejandro? Alejandro rejected me?_ she thought, confusing the two Alejandros together for the first time in her life. _No... Not possible. I am his child! I'm innocent! He couldn't have!_ Her left hand made the grab this time, and recieved the same response; the feathers sliced at her skin, cutting her clothes, but this time, she held on. _He made a mistake! It's a mistake!_ She attacked, swinging the blade around without a thought. Nothing came out. It only made the soldiers back off for the fear of accidentally being cut.

_He didn't reject me_, she denied. _He didn't!_

"DROP THAT SWORD!"

Arria didn't pay attention and charged, meeting the men's blades dead on, not knowing what she was doing.

_Escape! Escape!_ her distorted mind found an objective.

"DROP THAT SWORD!" the auburn-haired woman roared again.

_The Devil's tempting me. She's tempting me._ More confusion. Something cutted her on the arm. A cry shrieked painfully against her eardrums. She stopped a moment, wanting to block her ears; she had never heard anything like it in her life.

"DROP THE SWORD OR WE'LL KILL THE CHILD!" It was her baby's cry. The albino infant wailed in the lead scientist's grasp; a hand was around its neck, determined to squeeze it to death if she moved again.

_No... No..._

_"You're just a child._

_"You've done nothing wrong! You're innocent!"_

"Drop the sword, girl, I SAID DROP IT!"

They were wrong! They couldn't do that! It was just an infant, what did it do wrong? What did her baby do wrong! She staggered back, an overwhalming emotion she'd never felt before surging up within her like it'd been hiding all along. Her blood boiled as her grip on Alejandro's hilt tightened. Ther feathers suddenly ceased, exposing the amount of red it'd left on her.

They deserved death!

"Good girl, drop the sword."

She lifted her blade. The marines prepared to attack again. The woman, seeing this and angered, hurled the baby into the air and was about to slam it down on the ground when green smoke whooshed into the green. Screams erupted.

_What's going on?_ She was disdraughted, spinning around in panic. "My baby!" She couldn't hear the wail anymore. "It's not dead! It's not dead!" But she couldn't hear it anymore, not matter how badly she wanted herself to disbelieve.

Red alarm had gone off on the entire island. Mariejois was under attack.

* * *

It was dead.

Arria couldn't see its body. The green had fogged everything, killed everyone else. It must have been dead. The realization inflamed her. Her rage flew out of control. She ran over the dead corpses and out of the room. Outside, marines and scientists in lab coats crowded everywhere. The scene was chaotic. No one noticed her.

This place was the Hell Perry had told her about. They'd killed her baby. They were going to kill her!

Alejandro twitched in her hand, and almost as if it was controlling her movement, unleashed a wrathful storm of feathers, joining the green smoke.

She ripped everything to shreds as human cries filled the entire place. There were people trying to stop her, but to her mental state at the moment, they felt irrelevant. She hated them. Amid all this confusion, her mother's voice came to her again.

_"Thou shalt not steal."_

She cut apart the computers, crushed the keyboards, the controls. She saw a stack of papers. They looked like blueprints.

She took them, and fled from there.

"_Thou shalt not commit adultery."_

Didn't she already? Even if it was by force? Her mother had told her all about remaining virgin until marriage. Well, what marriage? Where could she go, who the hell would want her? Her virginity was already taken from her. And who did it? For a moment, her mind would not let her remember, but then she recalled clear and crystal Saint Lukyfer's face.

Yes, it was him. He was the one who bought her to Hell. He was the one who tainted her, raped her, impregnated her and refused to recognize her baby! She was already dead to him, wasn't he? He'd sentenced her to die!

Where was he now?

Her instincts carried her feet and moved her sword's arm, stabbing and swiping at whatever that got in her path. Blinded by her wrath, her feet carried her to the Celestial Dragons' homes. She kicked down the door and sliced the butler on the chest before the man could register.

_"Thou shalt not kill."_

She saw a little boy in the white suit with a bubble around his head. He couldn't have been older than her enslaved age. He walked right up to her, screaming threats that no normal eight year old would even think off. She cut his head off, the overseers ran at her with whips and sticks.

Bodies fell as she charged on.

_Kill._

"GET THE ADMIRALS! WHO IS THIS COMMONER! KILL HER! KILL HER!"

_Kill. Kill. Kill._ Alejandro's feathers effectively did the job.

"SHE WAS ONE OF THE CLEANING SLAVE!"

_Kill!_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

_"Thou shalt not kill."_

Where was Lukyfer?

"WORTHLESS WASTE OF AIR! GET THE ADMIRALS!" one of the Celestial Dragons' screamed again. "HOW DARE YOU DEFY MY ORDER!"

_Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!_ Went all their shotguns, aimed at her. For some reason, none hit. It wasn't until she stopped at an intersection did she notice the coat of feathers covering her coming from the sword.

There was Lukyfer. Two scandalously dressed slave women stood on either side of him. In front of him was a ring of two male slaves forced to beat each other to death. She kicked the enormous door into piece, startling everyone in the room. He dropped his ice cream in shock.

"HER! WHY IS SHE ALIVE?"

Arria ended the four slaves lives- it was mercy-killing, she convinced herself later. After slaying the guard in suit, her former master finally realized just what kind of a danger he was in.

The "Saint" let out a cry of fright and leaped off his throne-like chair, frailing his arms and calling the outside for help. Help was on the way of course. Marines now had flooded the mansion, going after her. She, however, did not plan for them to catch up.

"FILTHY BITCH! WORTHLESS COMMONER TRASH! YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Lukyfer screamed.

"_Thou shalt not kill."_

_"That's horrible! Mother said that killing is horrible!"_

_Her father laughed. "And that's what you don't get...It was in the name of God!"_

_In the name of God. _

She plunged Alejandro deep into his chest, piercing his heart, and wrenched the blade out. Then she grabbed his body up by his collar and slammed his head back down, shattering the glass bubble. her hand clutched his neck and squeezed hard, throwing him over and over on the ground until she was sure that his neck was snapped. Alejandro wasn't done yet; the sword in her left hand impaled her victim again, and again and again and again until his organs were a mush. Then she reached in, bathing her right hand in his blood, and _ripped_ everything out. His guts covered and dripped off her face.

She screamed her lungs out until she coughed red.

_"Ice Saber!"_

The girl rolled away, the ice slicing off strands of her hair, hissing as he grew everywhere, freezing the floor and numbing her fingers.

"Ararara, this is why we're called for?" Aokiji said outloud, withdrawing his weapon.

"A giiiirl did this? How friiiiiiiiightening!" Kizaru exclaimed, looking between the bleeding corpse of Saint Lukyfer and the slave. Arria couldn't even tell if he was serious by his way of speech.

"What a nuisance," Akainu growled. "A complete waste of time when there are other things we could be taking care of."

_Admirals._

Her grip on Alejandro was starting to quivering; her whole body was quivering as feathers regenerated on. The fear clouded her mind as she backed away from them. Kizaru's finger started shining, pointing directly at her. His glasses shield his eyes. Light shot out like bullets, hitting her on the arm and burning away her white shield into her bone. Her hoarse voice shrilled at the pain as she tried to run. They hit on her the back, the attack only lessening by the feather shield, burning small dots into her flesh.

_Fight back! Fight back!_

"Enough childplay, Borsalino!" The Lava-Logia snapped. "I'll end this!" Heat poured out from him.

_No! Run! I'm going to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to go to Hell, Mother, I don't want to burn_!

_"You're a child, Arria! Alejandro won't send you to Hell!"_

"_Daifunka!_" The lava fist came for her.

_"Only the ones fit to wield this sword can hold it..." _her father had said._ "This blade will yield to all his commands, protect his life as it did its original master, and will never fail him in battle."_

She ran left heading for the door, Akainu's attack hit her left arm, covered her bare flesh and _burned_. Her skin and the gold began to melt together- she dropped it, clutching her arm and screaming as the lava dripped. Careless, her feet slipped and tripped on ice pieces. Her stung by tears she didn't know she was crying. Three attempts at getting up followed, but her body was weak, and her will weaker. The admirals footsteps echoed and vibrated the floor.

_Mother, you said that he'll save me. Where is he? Where is the God I've prayed to for nine years? _Kizaru stepped on her father's sword on the way- the sword that was supposed to make the wielder undefeatable. At the sight and the though, the truth hit her.

"Death toll, thirty four," Aokiji calculated. "Fourteen of them had been Celestial Dragons. Sorry, young lady, but even Lazy Justice must cry for your death."

"Sentomaru-kun won't be happy at aaaaaall," Kizaru drawled.

Both Alejandros had betrayed her.

"_Meigo!_"

_"That shalt not betray." Liar..._ Her body slumped in defeat.

"_DEATH WINK!"_

_BAM!_

"C'MON, COME VALL, MY CANDIES! IT'S A MIGHTY VFINE DAY TODAY IN MARIEJOIS! HEEHAW~!"

_What?_

"Ivankov!" Akainu snarled.

_A... queer?_

A loud gasp rang through the air in response. "A- AKAINU! SO SCARY! Oh, I am avbout to faint from fear! Heaven vhelp me!" The okama wobbled tipsily, clutching his heart.

"Iva-san! Get a hold of yourself!"

"I CAN'T GO UP AGAINST HIM! I'M VEAK! I'M HELPLESS!"

"YES YOU CAN!" the crowd screamed back. "WE BELIEVE IN YOU, QUEEN!"

"I! ...I'M... JUST KIDDING!" He balanced straight up, jumping back and forth with glee.

"SO YOU'RE LYING AFTER ALL!"

"Fufufu, you look vell yourselvf, Sakazuki-chvan!" Ivankov greeted unbashfully. Arria stared at the abnormally large head and the sense of fashion of this stranger. She'd never seen so eccentric a person in her life before. "INAZUMA! CANDIES! ONVARD!"

"**HAAAI!**"

The place exploded into a battle.

"Hm? Candy Girl?" the okama said, peering down at her through his thickly mascaraed eyelashes, grinned at her and strutted his hips. "Don't vlook so pathetic! Stand up! Stand!"

"I... I can't," she answered, her eyes starting to water again. "I can't move anymore!"

"Vhy? Don't vbe so pessimistic!" he chortled and began twirling and dancing. "Don't vbe a dvrag, just be a qveen! Vhether yvour broke or evergreen-" (3)

"No!" Arria shouted, droplets rolling down her cheeks. "Those monster killed it! They killed my baby! He rejected it because it was albino! They'll kill me too!" Her chest racked as people battled around her. Ivankov stared at her, his smiling face unmoved. "I..."

_"Thou shalt not take thy own life, for it is a sin against He." _

_Mother, I'm sorry!_

"I don't want to live anymore! Please kill me! You-" Ivankov swung his leg and kicked her off the ground to the wall in one swift movement. Her back hit the solid concrete, blood spewing out of her mouth in shock.

"VHAT A SHAMELESS REQVEST!" he boomed angrily at her. "HOW DARE YVOU TAKE YVOUR LIFE SO LIGHTLY? FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE IZ A _MIRACLE_!"

She only sobbed harder.

"AND I VORK MIRACLE!" he declared, running up to her and dug his formed claws into her side. "EMPORIO TENSION HORMONE!" His Devil Fruit's drug injected her.

The tremendous pseudo energy raced through Arria's bloodstream, renewing everything in her. Ivankov grinned wider as he heard her tears and sobs stop, then pulled his nails out, never stop staring down at the girl as she dropped from the wall to the ground like a fly. The blood pumped her heart faster. Her left hand stopped burning and hurting.

"Understand, Candy Girl?" he asked. "If yvou do, get up!"

She slowly regained her ground, silenced.

"Th..."

"Hm? Vhat? I cannot heard yvou!" he declared happily.

"Th... Thank you!"

"That's the spivrit! Now! Go Fovrth! ONVARD, ONVARD!" he cheered as she grabbed her sword and ran. "TODAY IZ A GVREAT DAY! HEE HAW~!"

"YOU DAMN OKAMA!" Akainu roared, sending a wave of Lava towards him.

Ivankov twirled around twice before countering with Hell Wink, and took out a Den Den Mushi from his hair as he skipped around the room. "Dvragon-san?" he called into the snail.

* * *

The green smoke was everywhere, and so were the marines. With the amount of chaos on Mariejois, attentions quickly averted to other matters.

Arria ran the best she could, having a tireless body full of energy, her father's sword with her, and blueprints stuffed in her clothes. Where could she escape to? This was an island, there had to be boats somewhere. If she could steal a dinghy, _anything_, and sail away from here.

_Bump._

Someone knocked her down.

She looked up, heart pounding for the fear that it was one of the admirals, or anyone of rank or power that could round her up again and put her back into slavery. Or worse, kill her.

A man in clock cloak stared down at her. His face was half-tattooed. In his arm was something wrapped in a blanket

"Northwest of this island, there is a small ship. You can get in it if you're fast enough," he told her, then handed the bundle down to her. "This is yours, is it not?"

* * *

Two days later, the effect of the hormone wore off.

Since before she'd left the island, she had not eaten. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and she would bet that there was a stink about her that was keeping Sea Kings away. She was starved, thirsty, filthy, and would be trapped in this small boat until it somehow hits land someday. When was that day going to come? She had no idea.

Her nameless baby wailed again, and she tiredly brought it closer to her and exposed a breast, watching with envy as it filled itself with food.

She was being sucked dry too. Being dehydrated on the sea was ironic; she would've never thought it to happen.

The child was a girl, she'd learned.

Two days of floating around as a hollowed out shell of a human being, actual thinking began hitting her on the fall of the second day in the form of a roll of bounty posters dropping from a seagull. The sun had indifferently casted golden rays across the ocean floor. Birds flew above under beautiful shades of orange and pink. The water sparkled like stars. It almost felt as if heaven was taunting her.

The rumors were lies.

Everyone had told her that it would've been all right; the overseers, the slaves, even the caretakers had assured her that she could have her child safely, that they wouldn't harm her, that if she was lucky, she would even be made a concubine and be rid of her slave status! Was it all some sort of a joke to them? Did they find it funny to give her false hope? Now... Now what? Lukyfer was dead. She had killed him and thirty-three others, and because of that, there was an one hundred and twenty million beri bounty on her head, although they did a good job twisting the story. She was stuck with a child drifting without aim in the middle of nowhere _with_ nowhere to go, nothing in her possession except Alejandro.

That was when she looked at the sword in front of her for the first time in the two days. Remembering back, more realizations began to come to her.

That scientist-woman had asked her about this sword.

She'd asked how it ate a Devil Fruit.

But that was a lie, wasn't it? Alejandro produced feathers because of his soul, because his soul was in heaven as an angel to God. That was what her father had said.

Arria stopped, feeling tears coming again, and scolded herself for crying. Her eyes must be bloodshot.

As heartless as that woman was, it didn't sound like she was lying. But what did it mean for her father's story? Was he lying then? What about the Angel Gabriel appearing in Alejandro's dream? What about him conquering the Red Line? That part was certainly true, wasn't it? This sword was a gift from heaven, not the product of the Devil! The more she thought about it, the less Lance's story made sense to her.

_It's not a lie._

But the Hane Hane no mi-

_It's not a lie. _

But what if he didn't know better either?

_It's not..._

_"Devil Fruit... Developed it's own personality..."_ The rain of the storm in her dream echoed.

Her conscious tried one last time to hold on to familiarity; if it was a lie, then what about God? What about the other Alejandro?

What about Lord Fernando? What about Roberto? Genova had told her, she was innocent, she was a child, and they would save her. Why the fuck would they put her in a Hell like that for nine years then? To pay for her parent's sins? Was God that cruel? Where were they when she needed their help? Why was her savior a homosexual, something that her father always called beasts?

She looked up and recalled another memory.

It was the day she'd asked her mother about the prayer and the cross sign.

_"Well, where's God then?" _

_"You see the sky?"_

_"Yes."_

_"He's up there. In heaven."_

Now, she was seventeen, looking up at sky again.

The sky was empty.

She didn't bother controlling herself any longer, letting everything out, not caring if she might be blinded for crying so much. In the middle of all the tears, a part of her started to chuckle, then started laughing until she wasn't sure what she was doing.

_Then what I have been praying like a fool to for nine years? A figment of my imagination?_

"Hehehehe.. Hahahahahaha!"

_Mother, you lied to me too._

* * *

**End Note: **Congratulation on finish reading this. I loved writing it... But the editing fucking sucked _so much_!

(1) I was aiming for "I live for God. I live for purity. I thank for having life. May holiness befalls upon me. Amen, Father." The literal translation, which I got pretty damn close to the ideal is "I live for God and purity. I thank for having life. O' May holiness befalls upon me. Amen, Father." No, this isn't some bullshit Google-translation. It's legitimate Julius Caesar-time Latin. I double-checked the forms and grammatical usages for every single word in that verse _and_ made sure that I used the right choice of words. Three years of Latin paid off. I'm mighty proud of myself to finally put it to use. =u= ...If any of you see a mistake, tell me!

And no, it's not an actual prayer.

(2) Only five out of the "Ten Commandments" are the real ones, some reworded. The other five I took from elsewhere in the Bible.

(3) I'm not going to lie; it is my dream to to hear Ivankov do a cover of Gaga's "Born This Way." Don't they just go so well together? -3-

Yes, 'Alejandro the Great' is inspired by Alexander the Great.

Yes, Arria's parents are based on the love affair of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere.

Yes, I pulled a Deus ex Machina ending. That was the Revolutionaries attacking Mariejois, which happens right after the Council of Kings decided that in two or three years Monkey D. Dragon might become be a real threat in canon. In this fic, I decided that this was how Dragon got his real start, by ambushing the World Government's capital with a mass army of rebels.


	66. Karma's Humor

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Raziri123, trypheria, Lunatic-With-A-Pen, Kiku90, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl, Savage Valentine,_ and _Black Hyacinth_ for reviewing chapter sixty-four! :)

This is a continuation of chapter sixty-four as the last chapter was an optional flashback chapter. What happened in the flashback isn't exactly what Arria told them, but the crew got a rather condensed, basic version that doesn't involve much of the religious theme or much background on her parents; some things are too personal for anyone to tell. I wrote it for the readers. For those of you who chose not to read, don't worry, you aren't missing anything that's important plot-wise. I just developed her character further. XD

With that being said, enjoy this chapter. We're back to present time.

Phffff... **Lime warning.** Ohohoho! Fuck, I should've just made this a lemon and get the second of the three over with. But I didn't... Maybe I'll just do two of them. X(

* * *

"...I managed to escape with my father's sword, Perry, and some of World Government's plans-in-developments after destroying parts of Vegapunk's lab and killing my former master and some of his family," Arria concluded. "The Celestial Dragons want me dead because I killed the son of the main branch of the family as well as wrecked their homes, not to mention having someone connected to their flesh and blood.

"The Government want me dead because of the stolen blueprints. But since the Fisher Tiger incident happened just years back, they didn't want to embarrass themselves again by admitting the truth, so they twisted the story the best they could. They made it out to be an attempt at revenge and edited it so that the Revolutionaries' attack on Mariejois was a separate incident from mine even though their attack was what enabled me to escape in the first place. Since then, I've been running for eight years trying to get to East Blue. I had hoped that since it's the most peaceful Blue, I can at least raise my daughter somewhere. But all I've been doing is island-hopping around Grand Line using stolen Eternal Poses because Log Poses don't work in reverse. That's how I ended up on Mt. Hera."

She hadn't taken her hand away from her face this whole time, even though she had long stopped crying.

Kidd could feel the frigid aura from Killer, see the shadows darkening Camry's face, and hear the lack of breathing from their captive as she waited for them to say something. There was nothing in Sloth's expression that displayed any sort of emotion, negative or positive. The silence was heavy enough that it seemed to him as if the air could float water.

"'Blood Thief'," he said, allowing a small smirk to form on his face. She flinched at his unexpected voice. "You stole the blood of the Tenryubito."

"Perry's not their child," she spoke harshly in her now hoarse voice. "She's _my_ daughter! That bastard was in no sense her parent except the biological! They have no right to call me the thief of anyone's blood!"

"But you did steal Vegapunk's blueprints, you said," Killer pointed out. "You still have those, do you not?"

Her lips pressed thin and she shifted uncomfortably. "Why should I tell you?"

"Why should you not? You have nothing to lose by it," the masked man said. "And even if you don't, you're trap here with us. We'll find out sooner or later." He looked back, motioning to the shipwright. "It's over. Let her go."

The woman jolted up just in time to see Hiroki ripping the head off the neck- "_NO_!" -and the faceless head of the life-size mannequin rolling down the deck to her. The wooden body dropped on the ground as the black-haired man held up his empty hands. She stared at him with wide eyes, frozen and stunned.

"Your real daughter is by the back deck, the room's the first door to the left. Please-"

"PERRY!" she screamed, pushing him aside and ran past all of them.

"...Don't shout, as she is still asleep," he finished, but she was already gone. "...Really, at least let me finish."

With Arria gone from the scene, the crew simultaneously let out a held breath and relaxed themselves. The drama began right after.

"You goddamn son of a bitch!" Camry roared at Hiroki, who was getting glared by everyone else by then.

"Wow," the shipwright said with amazement. "Don't tell me that you all fell for it too."

"NOBODY FELL FOR IT EXCEPT HIM!" Everyone pointed at the cook.

"Besides, that's not even the point there, jackass!" Mustang said with anger. "That was an unreasonable, cruel and insensitive move! Threatening anyone with their kid, no matter what, is not right! That's the same thing as if you try to threaten us with Chuckie!"

"You went a little too far!" Chevy agreed. "If you want to scare her into confessing, there's plenty of other tactics to try! Asshole! Don't bring a little girl into this!"

"That bitch was having a heart attack on _my_ ship!" Kidd barked with steam blowing out of his ears. "Do it somewhere else next time, you yakuza bastard! And don't bring us into it with you!"

"The Fuhrer's always-" "SHUT UP!"

To Killer. "At least you used a fake..." the masked man muttered through gritted teeth.

Sloth did nothing else but glare.

Concluding from the responses he got that his nakamas did not approve of his action, Hiroki bowed his head and said, "I apologize."

"DON'T APOLOGIZE WHEN YOU'RE NOT SORRY!"

* * *

Chuckie was awaken again by the sound of doors opening. Unlike Hiroki's quiet interruption, the person this time saw it fit to abuse his eardrums by rudely kicking the closed entrance down and barging in without a warning. The boy's head snapped up in alarm, then eyes popped out to see a panic-looking Arria ran for the bed, ignoring him completely as she slumped down by the bedside, out of breath. Perry, who must have also woken up by the noises, slowly opened her red eyes and turned them towards the woman.

She sat up from bed, blinking.

"Arria-san, your hair's loose," the girl said, noticing the lack of the french braid. "And why are you wrapping yourself in a blanket? Did you lose your clothes?"

Chuckie watched as the woman struggled to put on a cheery smile with tears of reliefs glistening in her eyes. Her right hand reached out, touched her daughter's cheeks and combed through the white hair. Her left hand remained hidden, clutching the blanket. In the blink of an eye, her personality did an one hundred and eighty degree flip from a hysterical bitch to a smiling, kind and beautiful lady. The difference was amazing to the afro-sporting spectator.

"No, but they got dirty," she answered with all the calmness and love in the world, still stroking the girl's hair. "They have to be washed."

"Oh... You were being clumsy again, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was." This time, she managed a laugh. "I'm sorry. Did I worry you?"

"You should try to be less clumsy," Perry advised, then smiled back. "I was worried a little, but they told me that you're okay. Are you hungry? Chuckie-niisan's older brother is a cook, and he makes really nice food."

"Does he?"

"Uh huh, if you're hungry, you can ask him to make you something. I'm sure that he won't mind," the girl said, lying back down on bed. "They're really nice pirates, Arria-san. I like them a lot. But I'm tired right now. May I go back to sleep?"

The woman looked dazed, as if lost in her own thought staring at her before shaking herself back to reality and nodded.

"Yes, you may. I'll wake you up later, all right?"

"Okay."

And just like that, the girl closed her eyes and fell asleep in no time. Arria slowly pushed herself away, releasing a held breath as she did so. Chuckie picked his book up and stood, continuing to watch her before finally speaking up. "You can stay here if you want to," he offered, seeing uncertain and a tad worried at the sight of her half-naked, blanket-wrapped self and her disheveled hair. "They didn't do anything to you did they?"

"No, I'm fine," she told him.

"All right, I'm going outside, then."

She waited until he was gone. Then she peered over the bed once more and sighed at Perry's filthy face before finding a towel in the attached bathroom, wetting said towel, and cleaning the stir-fry's sauce off.

* * *

Still on the main deck, the crew pondered and argued between themselves about what was to be done.

"Here are our options," Kidd initiated, slamming a hand against the wall of the kitchen outside to get everyone's attentions. "One, we kill her!" "If you do that, I'll kill you!" the cook threatened much to the captain's and everyone else's doubts. "Two, we drop her and her kid off the next island! And three, we recruit her!"

"You're offering to recruit someone for once, Sencho?" Hiroki said, raising an eyebrow. "That's amazing."

"Shut up, you yakuza!" his captain barked. "Can't you see that I'm trying to process this logically?"

"That's even more amazing," the shipwright came back without hesitation.

Kidd exploded into a fit of screaming, rattling everything metal around him as he tried the best he could to get back at his second mate, only to be held back by the first mate, who sighed and hit him on the back of his head. "I thought that we agreed on letting her go after she show us what we want," he said, looking at them all, not sounding pleased at all with the idea of a woman in the crew all of a sudden. "Which is whatever plans or secrets she stole from the World Government."

"But her kid..." Camry protested. "It's fine if it's just her. She survived the marines for eight years and she'll survive longer. That daughter of hers is a different story. You're asking us to just let a little girl back into a life where she could never have a moment of peace?"

"But we're pirates," Chevy said. "Aren't we going to put them in bigger danger by recruiting them?"

"Oi, you're the one who saved her, Killer," Kidd pointed out. "Now that you found out that she's a mom, I would think that you-"

"That was not my intention!" he cut him off. "She's a wo..." He stopped himself halfway, as if not daring to finish saying his excuse. The cold air spoke of his unhappiness.

Kidd gave him a long stare, not believing what he knew he would have heard. "I would think that you'd accept better _because_ she's a woman," he said.

"That's not-" the masked man stopped himself again. "...Just forget it."

"I advice going with Sencho's third option," Hiroki spoke up. "Not because she's a woman, but because she's a valuable asset to have when it comes to battle."

"What valuable asset?" Chevy muttered. "We can all fight."

"But we all fight differently. Her attitude is exactly what this crew need to strengthen ourselves," came the answer. "Plus, your youngest brother seems keen to the idea of having another playmate, and Camry-san has already declared himself against the idea of abandoning a child back in the lawless world. Also, you have to take into consideration that the World Government hates her. The enemy of your enemy makes great friends. Now all it comes down to is our agreement. Sloth-san?"

The doctor, who had been silent all this time, lifted up his head and stared at Hiroki in the face.

"I am in no place to make such decision," he said darkly.

"Then it's settled!" Kidd concluded with a grin, stomping his foot down on the subject. "We'll recruit the bitch! And if she tries to back-stab us, we can always kill her!"

It was then that Ren decided to wake from her nap up in the Crow's Nest, having been there since that early afternoon. Her eyes blinked open, and she slowly slithered over to the side, arching up and- A painful wail much resembling a pig's squeal rang through the sky, startling the humans below. Seconds later after flopping around, the worm tumbled over and fell down, her tube body landing right in the middle of the deck. She woofed in agony, raised her head, and crawled over the doctor.

She showed to him her bright red skin.

"I got it," Sloth replied. "Got wait in the infirmary."

* * *

"I, Punk Boy, challenge, you, Daft Man, to the battle of the century! In the name of justice, I shall defeat you and rid the world of all evil! Prepare yourself, vile villain!" Chuckie exclaimed oh-so-dramatically as he waved his action figure around. "Rawr! Rawr!"

"...I accept your challenge?" Perry said questionably, sweat-dropping, then waved her figure around for two seconds for show.

They were sitting on the back deck in the shade.

"That's not how you say it," her playing partner criticized. "You're suppose to laugh really evilly and said-"

"But I thought you said that Daft Man's a good guy," she interrupted.

"Well-" Chuckie paused, frowning. "He is, but since we're battling right now, one of us has to be the bad guy. Two superheroes won't fight-"

"Woof!"

"Oh shit." He took Daft Man's action figure from her hand and tucked them under his shirt, then whirled away from the source of the sound to stare at the wall with a sullen expression on his face. Perry looked back from the approaching creature to the boy, puzzled as to what was going on. The worm barked again as she arrived, and tugged on the back of Chuckie's shirt. He sulked harder. "Woof?" Perry waved at her, and she began to sniff the new human.

"Hey!" Chuckie shouted, spinning back around, and prying the worm off the surprised girl. "Stop that!"

"Woof?" Ren licked him and started panting happily. "Woof!"

"Hmph."

A question mark popped above the creature's head. She gently nudged the boy. "Wooo…?"

"Chuckie-niisan, why are you mad?" Perry asked. "I think it's wonderful."

"Her name's Ren," the boy grumbled. "And she _used_ to be my best friend until she started running off with Killer-san!"

"Woof!" The worm licked his face again and purred, snuggling up to his chest.

"Yeah, well, where the hell were you for the past week then?" he raged, not convinced. "You're suppose to play with _me_!"

"Woof! Woof! Wooo..." she said as she wiggled her body all over in some sort of a weird dance.

He began sniffing, starting wailing not soon after. "You suuuck! Just saying sorry won't cut it!"

She purred, and licked him for the third time. He sobbed harder, blabbing something along the lines of "I miss you!", "Stupid worm!", and "You have to give me all your cookies for the next three days to make up for it or I won't forgive you!" The creature raced and danced around, occasionally closing up close and snuggling against him. With all the licking and hugging, Chuckie in no time was covered in her green slimy saliva. At least, he managed to calm down.

"Why do you smell- _hic-_ like a coconut factory?" he asked as he hiccuped.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Ren answered, flopping around and showing him the red half of her skin.

"What? Ren you idiot!"

"Woof!" she barked back.

"Don't 'woof' me! Everyone knows that you don't fall asleep while sunbathing, stupid!" he screamed back as she growled. "Serves you right to get sunburned, you dumb worm!"

She blew him a raspberry.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME? HEY, COME BACK HERE!"

He chased her around the back deck, shouting threats. Perry, watching them in her same spot under the shade, laughed and clapped her hands at them. Everything was more or less normal.

* * *

At the same time at the front of the ship, the crew had gathered again, each crew members loitering or sitting at their respectable spots with the exception of Kidd, who was on his feet facing the woman. She was fully clothed, her hair back into a braid again and her face bandaged with her sword strapped on her side. Like they'd decided earlier, the terms were set out for her. The captain was less than pleased to have to do this job. He had originally wanted Killer to do it, but for some reason, the certain cold air around his first mate was telling him not to approach the man. _Why the hell is he mad at me for?_ He thought, scowling inside his mind.

He also thought that it was ridiculous to have to lay out everything for her, not getting why it had to be so official. Hiroki had wedged himself into this crew against the captain's will. He didn't have to do shit to recruit the brothers, only having informal negotiations afterwards. Sloth was a spur of the moment decision, and so was Zinc because they really didn't have any idea what to do with the Spartian, who had practically glued himself to Kidd.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Hiroki, but Sloth who pushed him to be this formal.

"You need to deal with someone like her differently, Master Kidd," the doctor had told them. "Otherwise, she will not listen."

And that was how it ended up like this.

Talking to her, Kidd began to understand why Sloth pushed for this. She was very _specific_ bitch, wanting to know her exact role in the crew, the extent of loyalty he required her to offer, and the protection she would get back. And he had thought that pirates deal with issues like that casually. Apparently not, according to her.

"I don't deal with money," he answered her when she had asked for an amount of compensation. "That's him in the mask. He's the first mate, and you better pay him the respect too."

"There is no set amount," Hiroki told her after five seconds of silence from Killer. "Killer-san keeps watch on the vault, that is all. We get money if we need it for shopping or other matters, and if we have leftovers, we keep. He usually does not have a problem with it."

She found it to be acceptable, and nodded.

"Now I don't know what the fuck is up with your way of doing things, Blood Thief," Kidd said, pushing away from the rigidness of the discussion and back to being himself. "But you listen. I am the captain of this crew. My orders are absolute. I'll protect your daughter because that's the end of the deal you gave me, but you aren't getting off scotch-free either. I have a goal, and that is to become the King of Pirates. To be in this crews means that you will follow through with my goal! Laugh at me or turn against me and you can kiss your sorry ass goodbye!"

She did not laugh.

"The King of Pirates?" she echoed.

She pulled out her sword and stabbed it on the floorboard, shocking everyone but Sloth. Kidd, who had a hand on one of his dagger, paused in puzzlement as she sank onto one knee and bowed to him.

He blinked. "Oi, what the fu-"

"Master Kidd, please do not interrupt her."

_Huh?_

"I, Arria, do so swear on my daughter's life to serve my king in peace and war," she recited with her left hand over her heart. "To uphold honor, bravery, and loyalty during my service. Or so help me to die a pathless death for my crime."

Immediately, Kidd's eyes flew to Sloth, who said, "Now you take a dagger and cut her on her left-" "Right," she corrected. "...Her right shoulder. Be sure to cut deep enough to leave a scar."

Confused, but decided to go with it, the captain took the short blade out, held it above her, and swung it down. It sliced through the clothes, sank deep into the flesh hitting the bone, and stayed there for some good ten seconds before he pulled it out. Her blood oozed out and dripped from the metal. "And?" he asked.

"You put it away," Sloth instructed. "The ritual is completed."

With that, she stood up and sheathed her sword.

"What the fuck was that about?" Kidd muttered as she walked back to the spare guest room.

"It's a tradition of the Red Line kingdoms that has been in place ever since their monarchies and feudalism came to existence," Sloth replied. "It's a ritual performed during the dubbing of a knight, where the knight would swear lifetime loyalty and service to the king. Usually, it's a yearly ceremony involving ten or so graduates, not at all this casual. That was why I cautioned you to be proper. Chances are that she retained her people's ways and won't expect anything less. Surprisingly, she used the wrong hand to swear, and changed much of the wording."

"Well that's just a bunch of bulls," the captain said with a scowl, looking at the bloody dagger before putting it away.

"To her, it's not. The people of Red Line take vows of loyalty very seriously," the doctor said. "Breaking it means death penalty to them. Although... she wasn't suppose to swear on her daughter's life either; the voucher of this vow should have been God."

Kidd snorted. "That makes even less sense," he said. "Why the hell would anyone swear to something that doesn't exist?"

It wasn't until then did he notice that Killer had left the scene as well.

* * *

Arria jumped, her hand flying to her sword when the person opened the door without knocking, catching her in the middle of bandaging the wound on her shoulder. She threw the blanket on the bed over her half-naked body as Killer closed the door behind him.

"The plans," he said to her without a hint of emotion in his voice.

She watched him like a hawk as she reached for her bag beside the bed, opening it and rummaging through it before producing out handfuls of wrinkled old papers. "Here."

"If you want proper treatment for your cut, then go to Sloth," he said as he took them from her. "I don't care if you two have any sort of animosity in the past. Coming in later into this crew means you're responsible for getting along with the rest of us. A doctor is more valuable to us than a swordswoman. I hope you understand that." This time, even as hard as he tried to hide it, she could tell the underlining hostility in the tone of his speech. It was perturbing to her; wasn't he the one who ordered them to save her? "Who else saw these?" He gestured at the blueprints in his hands.

"No one but me," she said. "I can't sell them for money without getting caught."

"You've looked them over?"

The woman nodded. "All of them."

"And?" He fumbled through the stack.

"They appeared to have been working on some sort of a cyborg," Arria said. "Vegapunk had invented a way to extract Devil Fruit power out of Fruit-users and injecting them into mechanic weapons. He planned to install them within humans by replacing all body parts with machines. All he lacked at the time was a test subject to prove its legitimacy. Another bunch in there are outlines for a new underwater submarine warship, designed to go as far as ten thousand meters undersea. There is also several sketches of egg-shaped bombs... It's mostly formulas, and looks very incomplete. I didn't understand that one. There are some written in a language I've never seen before..."

Poneglyph writing.

The masked man stopped and stared down at the paper, having his breath stolen from him by the shock.

_...Didn't the World Government outlaw researches on the Void Century?_

The woman, sensing that he wasn't listen, ceased her talking as well.

"You said that you found these in Vegapunk's lab?" he inquired her.

"They were."

_Those bastards. Big secrets, huh?_ "What else?"

"I suspect that they've by now developed a way to make inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits, seeing as how they've experimented and tested my father's sword for nine years," she added on, then glanced at him with suspicion. "What are you planning to do with these?"

Killer merely faced her, rolled up the blueprints, and said, "Get dress, they're throwing a party outside."

And he left.

* * *

Sure enough, by sunset, the Chuck brothers had a barbecue going on the front deck with the aroma of fried Sea King flesh engulfing the entire ship. By the time Arria came out of her room, Chuckie and Perry had already stuffed themselves full, laughing their butts off while rolling on the ground with Ren. Kidd was well on his third plate, the red sauce drawing a ring around his mouth. Beside him was a half empty barrel of rum.

"Sencho, you're eating like a five year old," Hiroki commented while eating beside the addressed man, looking around for the first mate and not seeing Killer anywhere.

A vein popped on Kidd's head. "Ooof oof! (Shut up!)"

He handed the captain a napkin. "I'm telling the truth. Your face resembles a monkey's behind gone wrong."

Judging by the captain's murderous, devilish appearance, the cold hostile stance of the first mate, the utterly inhuman personality of the second mate, and the rough exterior of the rest of this crew, this bunch of men being capable of childish humor was the last thing she would think to happen. Yet, as she looked on, the amount of immaturity happening right in front of her- Kidd was attempting to have a shouting match with Hiroki, Camry was screaming at the youngest three crew members who were rolling on the floor, Mustang and Chevy were yelling at each other because the oldest brother got caught in another trap, and Sloth and Zinc dueled in a battle of chess- rendered her frowning and speechless when she wandered upon them.

"Checkmate," Sloth said to the Spartian, whose solemn expression did not faze.

"And so you've won, Comrade Zloth," he told the doctor, nodding his head. "One hundred and thirty-two wins for you. Zero for me."

Sloth ignored the wrong pronunciation of his name, deciding that 'S' and 'Z' weren't really that different anyway. "You would win if you bother to learn the proper rules," he pointed out.

"I have learned."

"Then you would not have lost to be a hundred and thirty-two times."

"No, this proves that you are indeed superior to me, and therefore higher of rank," Zinc answered with all sincerity.

"You lost to everyone else too, including Chuckie and Ren," the doctor pointed out once again.

"Then they are superior to me!" the other declared, nodding his head for no apparent reason.

Sloth, after telling himself that he would never understand the way of this person's people, cleared the board and put away the game. Zinc just sat there, unmoved as his chess partner got up and left the small table.

The doctor headed for Arria's direction, who met his eyes for a second as he walked past her to his infirmary.

Moments later, she vanished from the party to the side of the ship, following him.

* * *

The sword with its sheath landed on the ground beside his feet. Its presence neither startled nor alarmed him, only making him look down at it, then look up at her. They stared at each other with unreadable expressions for a good minute before the woman broke the silence.

"You said that this thing killed your family?" she said, nodding towards the blade. "I don't care what kind of a grudge you hold against my father's country, but I don't want to be on a ship where a member of its crew wants me dead because the grandfather I've never met done something to you. I never knew the old man. He died long before my birth. I do not feel the obligation of having to pay for his crimes and neither should my daughter."

He gave nothing, so she went on.

"Alejandro's all yours. I can fight with another sword just as easily. Do what you want with him, and keep away from my child." With that, she turned around and began walking away.

"Hold it."

She paused in mid-step.

"Aren't you full of self-justification?" he said, hissed almost, making her revert. He gazed at her coldly, put a foot on the sword, and kicked it towards her direction. She stepped on it, stopping its movement. "You're right, blaming the child for the sins of the parents is unreasonable. It's useless for me be angry with you when it's not going to bring my people back to life. Do you think this damned piece of metal will make a different, Blood Thief? You've inherited the arrogance of your people, I see."

She flinched, her lips pressing together under her bandages.

"I had children myself, and I loved them just as much as you love your daughter; I've never forgiven myself for dragging their lives into all the troubles I'd created with your kingdom trying to better my tribe's condition. They didn't deserve to die for my selfishness and dreams. Yes, they were intellectually inferior. Yes, I abandoned my human name and took on 'Sloth' as I am the last one left." He closed the distance between them. "But you will not swag your racist supremacy around me and sneer at this name. We maybe in the same crew. That doesn't mean that I will let you get away with it if you ever put them down again, because seeing how you know me, you must know _perfectly_ well what I'm capable of. I will not hesitate to slaughter your child, as your ancestors had done mine. Do I make myself clear?"

Of course, he was towering over her, glaring at her. His objective was to cast fear in her. Her mask of white cloths did a good job of covering up whatever emotion she felt, because even he couldn't see any. Dark shadows were shielding her eyes.

"_Perfectly_ clear," Arria said back without a sneer or a smile.

Sloth backed off, his head held higher as he watched her like an eagle. She picked up the sword beneath her sole and re-strapped it to her side.

"I suppose this conversation is over, Lundsten?" she asked, getting a nod from him. "Good, let both of us to try and not bring this up again."

"I would hope so."

At that moment, she could have walked away and be done with everything, but the woman found herself glued to the spot. "Why are you in a pirate crew?" she queried before he could returned into his infirmary.

"That's none of your business," the doctor replied.

"You don't want revenge?"

This time, it was Sloth's turn to freeze.

"You're not the only one who hates that place, you know? My family was exiled from there," she continued, seeing that she'd struck a nerve.

He nodded at her to talk.

"My mother was hung on the Square of the capital city right in front of the castle. Her skeleton may still be there," Arria said. "I am taught the custom and grew up with the culture, but I do not consider myself a Midevian. However, I will go there someday to retrieve her, cremate her and give her peace in death. If this crew has that much of potential that our captain may become the Pirate King, then we will certainly not be weak enough to attack Red Line. Do I have a truce?"

Sloth found himself biting down a smirk as he looked at her. "If Hell is real, you'll be going there."

"So will everyone else."

He nodded a final time, and was about to disappear back in when a loud crashed sounded through the air out front. _WHAM! _They both spun around in just time to see Kidd falling from the second floor onto the deck, making a dent on the floorboard.

"Damn it, Killer! At least you can tell me what I did wrong! Seriously, what did I do this time?" the captain screamed, red in the face from rage before charging up the stairs again. "I don't care if you're mad at me! I'm going in whether you like it or not!" A door slammed.

A silence fell over.

Then the brothers all burst into laughter.

"...This is rather off topic, but... Are those two…?" Arria asked with uncertainty.

"They are."

And Massacre Man's hostility suddenly made sense. _Tch, jealous bastard,_ she thought, one of her eyebrows quirking._ And here I thought that at least _you _have some common sense on this ship._

"You best not say anything disapproving either, or they will have your head, and no one can stop them," Sloth advised her.

"No," she said, the memory of her beloved godfather flashing through her head for an instance. "What they do in their bedroom is none of my business."

* * *

"Is this the last one?"

Camry, who had been busy laughing at Mustang- who was attempting to play his saxophone one-handed after two barrels of rum- and Chevy- who ended up getting caught in one of his own traps, now swearing loudly as Chuckie drew on his face-, suddenly found his wide smile turning into a scowl at the appearance of the shipwright. Hiroki took the last stick of the barbecued Sea King meat off the grill and ate it, the smallest grin set on his face at the unfriendly expression on the cook.

"What's with you?" he asked, amused. "Are you still mad? Everyone else seems to have gotten over it."

"Yeah well, they don't have much decency in the first place," Camry shot back, his scowl not faltering the slightest.

"That's too bad. I was about to ask you to pick a name for her too..."

"For who?"

Hiroki held up the 'Perry' doll. The head was reattached. "Her," he answered. "Since Perry-chan doesn't have any toys from what I see, I thought that she may like this-"

"YOU'RE GOING TO NAME IT AND GIVE IT TO HER?" Camry barked. "THAT MAKES IT TEN TIMES MORE CRUEL!"

"...What's wrong with it?" the other asked, truly puzzled at his reaction.

"That's... That's like..." the cook stuttered before composing himself and glaring down at Hiroki. "Look here; have you ever cut open a dead animal for experiment? Such as in a biology class or something? Say you have a frog, and you're about to dissect the frog." "Uh huh?" "But before you do it, you decided to name it... something stupid like 'Luffy' or something!" The name just stuck out in Camry's head for some reason. He was sure that he'd heard it somewhere before, but at the moment, he could not recall, or be bothered to, where. "And then when you're cutting the skin apart with a knife, the whole time you're going in your head 'Easy there, Luffy, I am only cutting you open and separating out your organs and draw what you look like on the inside.' It's the same thing if you name the animal before cooking it! 'Oh look, I'm going to have Chopper for dinner-'" He could not remember where that name came from either. "- once I can skin him and make the sauce ready for the dipping.' It just makes the whole deal more sadistic and psychopathic! When you name something, it becomes personal to you! And you've ripped the doll's head off!"

"...I understand what you're trying to say, but since I ripped her head off-" "Don't call it a 'her'!" "-beforehand, I don't understand how your point relates to my actions," Hiroki said with all honesty.

Camry face-palmed.

"Do you like the name 'Nami'? Or is 'Robin' better?"

* * *

As soon as Killer had gotten his hands on the blueprints, he shut himself inside his own room, closed the window and didn't bother to come out for the barbecue at all. With the Poneglyph translation-in-process pushed aside, he set out the newly acquired papers and spread them all over his desk and bed according to what projects were there. Blood Thief had stolen about twenty to thirty sheets, but there were only four projects. Five, if he counted the incomplete and wrong sketch of the atomic bomb, and six, if he counted the numerous papers written in the Poneglyph language.

Granted, she probably wasn't considering what she was stealing when she'd done it, and only grabbed the plans partially, but that was enough to raise questions in the blond's mind.

The cyborg wouldn't have been a problem, except the Devil Fruit part that Vegapunk involved. The submarine warship shouldn't have been a problem either, except the ship seemed specifically designed to go ten thousand meters deep underwater. Treasure-hunting had been his first thought, but the World Government was more than capable to printing out their own currency. It would make sense, but the paper money was taken at face-value and did not need gold to back it up, along with the fact that treasure-hunting would not require the firepower of a warship. Then he remembered Fishmen Island and Fisher Tiger and his attack on Mariejois.

_Preparation for war?_ "Where else would they go with warships?"

_But Fishmen Island is under the protection of Whitebeard._ With that theory in mind, he instantly arrived at the conclusion that the project might have been abandoned under the impression that the World Government must be _full_ of idiots if they dared to declare war on Whitebeard.

Killer store the submarine plan away.

Next came the nuclear weaponry.

Remembering their little debate back in Sparts made Killer chuckle under his breath. Sloth had accurately predicted the two possibility with the World Government attacking that place all right. Judging by these erroneous blue prints, it seemed as if even Vegapunk, the greatest scientist of this age, had trouble perfecting what the Spartians did two hundred years ago- assuming that the coming about of the bomb was around then. They could have had it longer. He stored this away as well.

Then came the Poneglyph writing, and he was stumped.

He didn't have to be stumped any longer.

Kidd opened his door and barged right in without permission, carrying a plate of Sea King meat on sticks and a bottle of wine. Killer found his stomach giving an embarrassing growl at the mouth-watering aroma of food.

"Just leave it there," he grumbled, not looking at him at all. "I'll eat later."

"Oi, you're coming back to my room tonight, right?" Kidd demanded without the least consideration.

Killer's hands balled into fists. "No, I'm not."

"But what did I do!" the captain cried with outrage.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you ignoring me!"

"I'm busy, can't you see that?"

"No!"

"Well, I am!"

Hearing that, Kidd kicked the door close and pounced on him, taking him by complete surprise as he found himself being pinned on the bed on top of all the papers with a pissed redhead glaring down at him. At once, the room temperature declined.

"You will get off of me!" Killer snapped, directing his anger right at the other, having little effect.

"But-"

"NOW!"

"Not before you tell-" And he kicked Kidd out of his room, shut the door and locked it this time. Outside, screaming went on as he set his meal aside and cleaned up the mess.

And no sooner did he started doing so, the door flew open and shut again.

"Fucking hell, get out!" he roared before the intruder could get a word on. "What part of that sentence don't you understand?"

"You're either coming with me tonight or I'm staying here!" Kidd shouted back, startling him. "Fuck you, what the hell did I do? You've been ignoring me ever since we left Sparts! You kept making excuses! 'I'm tired right now', 'I have things to work on.' Well, I call bullshit! We live on a fucking ship! Unless you're Hiroki or Camry, how can you be busy at all times? I-"

"Is sex all you can think about?" Killer hissed, relentlessly organizing the blueprints. "You know, I've had a good time to think for the past few weeks without you, and I came to the conclusion that you're only going through a phase-"

"Killer, you're only older than me by three years! Don't tell me that I'm going through no fucking phase!"

"My being older than you is precisely why I can tell!"

Kidd clenched his jaws. "If I want you to be my mother, then I wouldn't fuck you!"

"If I'm your mother, I would've committed suicide by now!" he snapped right now. "What are you doing in my room when there's a woman on the ship now? I told you before; you only went after me because there wasn't a female here, otherwise you'd never have gone to me! Now there is, go after her-" "Why would I want that? Who the hell is she? I don't know her!" "That doesn't matter. Truth of fact, when there's a woman on a pirate ship, she's the captain's woman, and there's a woman on this ship at this very moment-" "And you're her!"

_Bam!_ Kidd's head crashed against the wall.

"Don't call me a woman," the masked man snarled.

The redhead steadied himself, hissing with pain as he staggered closer. "If you're going to act like one then that's how I'm handling you!"

He tackled Killer down on the bed and pulled the shirt apart, the buttons popping and flying in all directions.

"Get the fuck off-" his first mate hissed at him, and was immediately silenced as he leaned down kissed the other on the neck, quickly wandering lower. His teeth took hold of a nipple and pulled before his mouth covered it, licking.

The man on the bottom let out a string of inaudible curse, and Kidd could feel the struggling weaken as he ran his hand all over, caressing the muscles, down the spine. He grinned as he heard the other's breath hitching and sharpening. By then, he had known a lot about pleasing his first mate in bed. There were plenty of kinks that Killer would never admit himself to have, just like the man would never admit how lewd his body was during situations like this.

He loved the feeling of cold hands and hot mouths; he loved being...petted. And Kidd's hands were especially cold.

The captain undid the jeans, yanked at the front, and slipped a hand in, covering the hardened cock. The heavy breathing, the forming sweats, the shivering and the beautiful redness flushing Killer's entire body as he tilted his head back to reveal the moving Adam's apple was more than what Kidd had hoped for. His throat ran dried, and his own erection strained painfully against his pants at the sight, aching to get out.

"Aah...Aah!" Killer moaned raw, grabbed the back of the fur coat as he subconsciously arched up off the bed. The redhead brought him onto his lap, the position making Killer sit right on the hardness between his legs, making him hiss with pleasure. His first mate gasped and whimpered in his ear as he thrust his hips up, demonstrating exactly what the movements would be like if his cock were in Killer. The jeans had now been taken off, discarded on the floor. He stroke the exposed member faster.

"You've got some nerves, you brat," the blond hissed between breaths.

"Hehehe," he chuckled. "Not bad for a brat, huh, old man?"

"Shut up, I'm only three years older than you," said old man reminded in a small voice, feeling his hips bucketing and his knees trembling. "How the _hell_ do you even top me?"

"Because you like it this way. You _love _it," Kidd whispered into his ear, kissed and gently bit down on the exposed bump on the flushed neck, sucking on his skin and unaware of just how husky his voice sounded. "See? Why would I want a woman when I have you?"

The low voice heated Killer more and more until he was sure that he was burning up a fever. Kidd's thumb teased his tip, the hand was roughly tugging and squeezing him with increase pressure, fondling him. And then the bastard had the audacity to push him back on the bed, a hot wet mouth licking and sucking him on the side while a hand covered the tip, knowing he was close. His world blinded him as he spilled, his eyes closed and his mouth gasping for air, moaning and crying Kidd's name.

"You lost." The hand, wet from his own cum, placed itself on his chest. A wide grin loomed above him. "You're mine."

* * *

**End Note:** No! This is _not_ continued next chapter! Go imagine the rest of it and leave me alone, you perverts! *Hides in a corner* Gah, my porn's terrible... ;A;

Anyway... last two days to vote on Bat-chan's poll. Just a reminder. Since the Inter Arc's coming up and the poll's closing, you know?

Name: Arria

She is named after the Roman wife who committed suicide in order to encourage her husband, Caecina Paetus, to commit suicide because he was a coward and couldn't bring himself to do it until she did it. Reason being is that he tried to assassinate Emperor Claudius, but got caught. Roman traditions required either him killing himself and save his family the honor, or he gets public execution and his family loses face... So yeah, a little Roman history of the day.

Age: 25

Eye: Gray, silver, whatever...

Hair: Lavender blond, tied in a long french braid most of the time

Height: About four or five centimeters shorter than Killer, who in my mind is around 190cm. That'll put her around the 185cm range.

Fighting Ability: The sword, which covers her offense and defense at the same time. She's fast, nowhere near Killer or even Hiroki, but can probably fair equally against Kidd in a contest of physical speed. Her physical strength equates to Camry's level though, a good deal below the stronger people of the crew, putting her in the middle of the spectrum. That being said, she, like everyone else in the crew, will improve in the fighting area.

Interests: Dressing up and wandering into places as an old woman, making up and telling stories, observing things- anything- for a great length of time, her daughter... Her daughter... I said her daughter.

Characteristics: She doesn't care what the fuck anyone thinks about her, or if she hurts anyone's feelings. She is extremely overprotective of her kid, has a very stinging tongue, is arrogant, is full of self-justifications, and has major issues respecting and trusting other people, especially men. She's Agnostic, leaning quite a lot towards the Atheist side.

One Unique Thing About Her: She can imitate anyone's voice. Yes, even Donald Duck's. Why is this important? I don't know... Or do I? B)


	67. Inter Arc: And So It Was Life

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Cloverskeet, Smexyforever, Black Hyacinth, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl_ and _Awesomeness_ for reviewing chapters sixty-five and/or chapter sixty-six. Holy God's Left Sandal, I made so many mistakes in the last two updates because I just couldn't find the energy to edit shit, and then I published them, read them over three hours later... ._. No, I didn't edit this either.

The poll is closed. Eleven people voted (Really? Only eleven people love Bat-chan? ;A; ...Or does only eleven people read my story? ...If only eleven people read, then that'd be amazing judging by the number of favorites, alerts, reviews and hits this fic has. Daw, that's some devoted eleven readers. You all made multiple accounts just for me, didn't you? =u=), and AU-fied won over. Apologies goes to the four voters who wanted Re-education. However, due to requests by PMs and notes in reviews, I'll compromise and meet you four-eleventh of the way. There will be _some_ changes to his ways, but he'll remain what I made him essentially.

And just a note, even if Oda does give Eddie and Bat-chan real names, I'm not changing "Sloth" and "Zinc." I had thought that I could, but now I'd have to go out of the way around plot points to tweak everything, and provide logical explanations as to why "Zinc"'s name might not start with a "Z" and the whole Tribe of Sloths deal. I'm a lazy smartass and that's just too much work for me. Sorry. -3-

FANART TIME! ...Well, not exactly, but I won a traditional request from _Skadi Skadi no mi_ on DA and I asked for Zeva because she's probably my favorite crazy bitch out of all the OCs I have as crazy bitches, so I forced Skadi-san to draw it, basically. XD Here's a link! http : / / Skadi-Skadi-No-Mi. deviantart. com/ art/ REQUESTED-Zeva-and-Sparts-244570389 And it's in my profile if you're too lazy. Thank you!

* * *

Inside Marineford, Sengoku, the three Admirals and whichever Vice Admiral managed to get to this emergency meeting sat around four long tables in this brightly lit conference room. Dark looks of all sorts and levels were displayed on everyone's faces. On top of said tables, numerous copies of six different pictures were laid throughout. The darkest of all expressions belonged on Akainu, and a rather unusual sight he was; it was rare that people would see wounds on Red Dog, yet bandages there were.

"Mugiwara Luffy obliterated Enies Lobby and destroyed CP 9," Sengoku initiated. "Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death, mutilated Quarter Four, this half of Grand Line's most prominent Marine base. The "Glutton" Jewelry Bonney de-aged two of our rear admirals and killed off half of their crews by aging them to death. 'Red Flag' Drake seized another warship off the coast of Vifficiance, a warship containing a top-secret special delivery to the West Blue. 'Mage' Hawkins spurred another naval war between the Zambians and the Pruskians... And now _this_?"

"Arararara! Indeed troubling," Aokiji muttered. Even he dared not doze off at a time like this.

"How did _this_ came into being?" Garp asked, strains and sweats lining his forehead. "The 'Hell Breather' was declared dead twenty years ago!"

They were primarily focusing on Sloth's photo.

"This is baaaaad, veeeery bad!" exclaimed Kizaru. "Ooooh, look at the oooother one. 'Zinc', iiiinteresting name."

Akainu's dark glare faced them all. "Sparts," he said in a low, hateful tone. "Eustass 'Captain' Kidd had gone to Sparts. And he and his crew not only lived, but has a Spartian in their crew under their command! Now you tell me what this can mean!"

"Perhaps we should be more concerned about the presence of one of Marc D. Ante's commanders in this rookie's crew and what _that_ can mean!" Momonga countered. "Are you actually going with the notion that Eustass 'Captain' Kidd killed one of the strongest pirates to ever exist _and_ conquered an empire of demons that we've been trying to infiltrate for the past eight hundred years, Admiral Sakazuki?"

Another vice admiral picked up Hiroki's poster. "Not to mention that we still haven't figured out whether or not he's allied with the Shinoda-kai. 'Dead Eyes' may have been legally disowned by Shinoda Takamaru, but that yakuza family never cease to fail swindling South Blue. And with his only son in this pirate crew? Who knows what they're up to!"

"And why isn't this syndicate eliminated?" Akainu asked with a growl.

"Impossible," someone else answered him. "If we do that, the crime rate of South Blue will fly out of control. It's best that we make use of what we can from them."

"Using crime to control crime?" the Lava-Logia shouted. "What kind of philosophy are those scums in South Blue Headquarter following!"

Garp silently picked up and stared with solemn eyes at Killer's poster.

A second later, Sengoku slammed a hand down on the table, halting all disputes and potential for fights to break out.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" the Fleet Admiral roared, and even Akainu shut up. "WE'RE GOING TO SETTLE THIS CREW CALMLY AND PROFESSIONALLY, NOT IN FITS! We'll get this through one way or the other, not argue amongst ourselves! The appearances of Sparts and Ante may shock us, but nothing is going to be accomplished by panicking! Settle down; I expected better from people of your ranks!" Everyone quieted and turned to him as he held up 'Blood Thief' Arria's poster. "We'll begin with this woman first."

"She's dead," came Akainu's determined confirmation. "There's no doubt about it. I personally witnessed Eustass 'Captain' Kidd in possession of that bastard child, meaning that she obviously died, or she wouldn't have let a pirate take her daughter!"

"Or maybe she joined his crew," Aokiji suggested. "Which would make him even more wanted. The Celestial Dragons never quite forgave us for letting her get away in the first place; they still wants to see her head on a platter. It's entirely plausible that the Kidd pirates might have saved her and recruited her. Her father was a pirate, after all."

"But," said a female vice admiral. "We can never been sure. I suggest sending a team back to Mt. Hera to dig up the body so as we have something to present to the Tenryubitos' main family. Only then can we safely declare her dead."

They glanced around at one another and came to the conclusion that it might be a good idea.

Sengoku gave a final nod, and filed the poster away.

"I propose thoroughly investigating the Shinoda-kai in South Blue," another vice admiral spoke up. "Their underground activities have been going on for way too long. Now that the family's heirless, it's the perfect opportunity to convict their don and bring the group down. We can seat someone else in, so as it'd not only single-handedly let us monopolize and destroy passive crimes in that Blue, but to also strengthen that family's established bounty hunting units. We must stop them before they can expand into this half of Grand Line, or worse, the New World. Otherwise, they'd be out of our control. Also, we must eliminate 'Dead Eyes' as well. Out of the three bounty heads, he was the one who burned the castle down on Bleu. Knowing fully well that we'd look into his background, I'd say that he won't hesitate to try something more rash against us, especially since his crew acquired _these_ new powers."

There was a more skeptical silence, for not all of them knew of South Blue businesses as some others. Nevertheless, Sengoku made a mark and also filed Hiroki's poster away, joining everyone's attention on the newly taken pictures of Sloth and Zinc.

It really was a hard choice as to which one worried him more, and the rest were as torn as him.

They had absolutely zero information on Sparts, only knowing what was handed down to them over the centuries. Who knew what might have changed? And if a mere cadet from that empire could take on one of their admirals, what would that indicate about the rest of those people?

On the other hand, they had a _mass_ of information on Sloth, from his background as the Chief of his former tribe, to the murderer who raided villages, plundered towns, and killed countless innocent civilians as revenge for the death of his people, to the third title of him being one of Marc D. Ante's seven commanders, and the amount of decimation his former crew had contributed to the world. By the time the Hell Kaiser recruited him, he had gone into hiding from the world, almost; but to be placed on the same level as the other six? Even Sengoku suppressed a shudder, remembering the insanity plaguing that crew. Once a vice admiral twenty-some years ago, he'd faced them, and he'd personally faced "Hurricane" Kentra, Ante's demented first mate; he had scars to prove it.

"The real question here is," Garp said. "How did Eustass Kidd meet up with them?"

"Obviously, he had to have some sort of encounter with Sparts... But no one has ever left Sparts once they went into that place," someone pointed out.

"As for the Hell Breather, it can easily be that he was the sole survivor of that crew, and happens to wander upon these rookies, and decided to join," hypothesized another. "There's no way Ante can be beaten!"

"And why not?"

"...That's..."

"Marc D. Ante has gotten to be well over his seventies if he lives; he was only a few years younger than Whitebeard," Aojiki said. "It's very possible that he'd past away."

"Hmph, don't be ridiculous," Tsuru muttered for the first time during the entire conference, silencing the rest of them. They glanced at one another again, and looked at the strategist. Heavy shadows shaded her wrinkled face. "You've never fought him, Kuzan, you don't know what Ante's capable of... That man won't die, _can't_ be killed."

"...Hmmm... Why would yoooooouu say that?" Kizaru asked.

"Don't you know? Sakazuki can tell you," she replied, looking at Akainu. "Tell them, how young did the Hell Kaiser seem to you twenty seven years ago?"

The Lava-Logia slowly lifted his head at the question. His lips twitched for a moment, as if he wanted to answer, but something was stopping him.

"Why does that matter?" he eventually spat.

Ignoring him, the old woman continued. "None of his victims ever died in battle... At least none that _he_'d fought. If they died, they died because of his subordinates. But... Every surviving man who'd faced him one-on-one fell apart, ended up insane and took their own lives. It's almost like he'd cursed their luck and destroyed them psychologically. Don't underestimate him; none of us know the full extension of his power.

"The main point here, Senguko, is that now one of his commanders is in the hands of a rookie," Tsuru said. "If rumors are true, Ante had reached Raftel the same time Roger had and therefore knew where the treasure is, meaning that with Sloth in his crew, Eustass Kidd has a free ticket to One Piece and the title of the Pirate King!

"That's the true danger here! That's the main reason why this rookie _has_ to be brought down and eliminated!"

* * *

**EUSTASS KIDD ("Captain" Kidd)  
**DEAD OR ALIVE  
220,000,000 beri

_"On July 24th, the notorious pirate Eustass "Captain" Kidd and his crew, before had set fire to Bleu's castle only months ago, attacked the marine base of Mt. Hera in attempt to help the A-class criminal "Blood Thief" Arria (Bounty 120,000,000 beri) escape persecution... "Captain" Kidd's power triggered the eruption of Mt. Hera, a volcano that had been said to be extinct... Entire island evacuated... Lava and the ashes made this island uninhabitable for the next two years, predicted Grand Line scientists..."_

* * *

Oink

Arria wasn't a saint like her mother, and she certainly had no intention of being a saint after the shit sainthood put her through. She came to understand men better, or so she thought. No, she wouldn't say that she hated these... creatures. She'd knew great men in her life, and she knew that the world were full of bad men as well as good men.

It was just very hard for her to like them. Now living on ship and being in a crew with them, a woman and a mother had to take some precaution, lest she let her daughter be bullied.

On a bright afternoon, she pulled Perry away from her game with Chuckie and Ren and kneeled down to eye level with a warm smile. The rest of the crew was on deck, glancing at the pair with curiosity.

"Arria-san?" the girl asked puzzlingly.

"Perry," she said, the smile not faltering. "What did Arria-san say about boys and men?"

The child's red eyes lit up instantly. She puffed her chest, tucked her hands behind her back and recited proudly, "Boys and men are pigs! Oink, oink! They're only good for their animal crackers!"

... All males on board froze.

She clapped her hands, and praised, "That's my girl! Now go play along."

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, YOU BITCH?" Kidd snarled, arms waving and was about to beat her up, but killer held him back, saying, "I'll deal with her later. Calm down, idiot..."

Chuckie surrendered an animal cracker over to an innocent-looking Perry, looking extremely dismayed and on the verge of tears.

* * *

**KILLER ("Massacre Man")  
**DEAD OR ALIVE  
92,000,000 beri

_"...Possible death of "Blood Thief"... to hunt for her corpse... "Massacre Man" Killer accompanied his captain's attack... first mate of the pirate crew... Highly dangerous... mercilessly murdered civilians and marine soldiers..."_

* * *

Left

"Write straight! Your hand is shaking!"

"It's not shaking; I'm holding this shit perfectly fine!"

"If it's not shaking then you would be writing straight!"

It was another frustrating afternoon outside on the deck. Chuckie sat at the corner of the table, as far as he could from Kidd and Killer, fearing that their dispute might explode into another quarrel any time. He was holding a book, pretending to read, but hadn't turned a page in twenty minutes; the day was cool and the sun was out, it should be a day for him to play, not learn. Needless to say, sitting next to Hiroki and Zinc was a lot safer. The shipwright's patience seemed endless, by now having a confident clue in mind about how the Spartian should be taught.

He'd designed and made a calculator.

"See? One plus one equals two. Why don't you try it?"

Zinc, no matter how many times he'd inputted into the machine, couldn't make it equal anything else.

In between them, Arria and Perry sat, the two talking between themselves as they went through one of Chuckie's older books. Perry read really, really slow and constantly got letters and words confused, he'd noticed.

"...the... d... du... ducky... s... sitting in the... tud."

"'Tub'," the woman corrected. "That's a 'D.' You want to draw the duck?"

"Uh huh."

"Good. Draw it and spell it out. You'll know the word next time."

Chuckie found this strange. In school, if the teacher gave them vocabulary words, she'd expect them to copy it over twenty times and be ready for a spelling test next week, not do drawings of them. And certainly none of his spelling words were as easy as "duck." Then again, he could read and learn a lot faster. Perry was extremely slow. _Maybe she's 'special'?_ he thought, knowing several 'special' children in his old school. He knew that some of them had to take medications for it, and others had private tutors or extra help because they wouldn't learn the usual ways. Then he glanced over at Kidd. _Now that I think about it, what about Boss?_

"What the hell are you writing?" Killer was not asking a question. "Your penmanship resembles chicken scratches!"

"I wrote my name!" Kidd defended. "See? 'Eustass Kidd'!"

"Your 'S's are backwards again, your 'D's don't match one another, and the entire thing is shaky and slanted."

"How the hell should I know? I'm holding the pencil right! So as long as you can read it, why should it matter?"

"The problem is, _nobody_ can read this!"

They flew into another heated bickering. The entire table looked up, concentrations having been disrupted.

Arria glanced down once at what the captain had written, and frowned. "Why is he writing with his right hand?" she asked.

"Because that's how people write," Killer snapped. "With their hands!"

"That's not what I'm trying to say," she shot back. "Can't you tell that he's left-handed?"

Silence.

"...Kidd, switch hands."

The woman shook her head and went back to her daughter. Hiroki and Zinc followed her suit and resumed messing with the new calculator. Chuckie tucked his head back into his book, one ear out, listening as the redhead finished re-writing his name.

Killer stared at the much neater, much faster written words, gritted his teeth, and smacked the other over the head. _Boink!_ "Why didn't you tell me that you're left-handed!" he roared.

"Don't hit your captain!" Kidd barked back. "And how the fuck was I suppose to know!"

"How the fuck can you not?"

"Well, when I went to school, everyone else in class was right-handed so I thought that I wrote with the wrong hand! That's why I switched!"

"YOU IDIOT!"

* * *

**SHINODA HIROKI ("Dead Eyes")**  
DEAD OR ALIVE  
75,000,000 beri

_"... set fired to the castle of Bleu's royal family... killed the prince... five days ago accompanied his crew during the attack... Infiltrated into the base...also responsible for the death of numerous marines... rumored connection with anonymous South Blue syndicate family... no answer..."_

* * *

Because We Care

Quite frankly, Chevy had enough.

He watched his oldest brother from afar, not pleased at all that Mustang had yet mentioned once about the pseudo arm since it was brought up last time. It wasn't too unexpected; his aniki was just like that, all his brothers knew. But it didn't lessen the fact that it hurt seeing him living with only one arm. It wasn't that Chevy had anything against handicaps, but if a physically challenged person was given the opportunity to modify that handicap, he couldn't understand why anyone would turn it down. Was it because Mustang feared the surgery? It wasn't of his person to be scared of pain.

"Aniki is impossible," Camry said to him as he prepared dinner that afternoon. "I'm surprised that you're still at it, Chevy. I don't think that anyone could convince him."

"But... he listens to you the most, doesn't he?"

It was a strange dynamic in the family. Although their oldest brother had the final say in everything being the first in the birth order, most of the time, the second oldest made all the decisions. Mustang rarely questioned Camry, and almost never told him what to do. In reverse, he was often supportive of whatever Camry had in mind.

"I don't know anymore. I can't even tell if he's pretending that nothing changed or if he's really oblivious to the fact that he can't even peel a boiled egg!" the older went on, cutting the fish in half. "Tell me when you find a way to change his mind though. I'll be there to back you."

Chevy then went to the youngest brother.

"Mm... That's hard, nii-san. Aniki's just that kind of a person. I really think that he doesn't notice," Chuckie said, peering up to him with puffed cheeks. He was sitting between the bars of the rail, bare feet dangling from the ship. "You know, I never thought that you feel that way. It's true that I spend the most time with Aniki, but that doesn't mean that I'm his favorite, or that he'll listen to me. He loves all of us equally."

"I know, but..." Perhaps he'd worded the request wrong. Now, he felt a little ashamed.

"But even if he doesn't, I still love you the most, Chevy-niisan!" the brat said cheekily, making a kissy face at him. "You'll never lack brotherly love from me! Do you think you can get Hiroki to teach me how to gamble?"

The teen turned pink. "Don't try to sweet talk me at a time like this! This is serious business!"

He went to Hiroki last, who was in the orlop, mapping out a blueprint that he quickly put away as the Chuck brother came in.

"Uh, I'm not bothering you, or anything?"

"If I say you're not, that would be lying," the shipwright commented, earning an unease look from him. "But go ahead. I don't mind."

"It's about that fake arm."

He received a nod. "I got all the components ready; I just need to get the measurements from Mustang-san, presuming that he accepted your proposal?"

"No, he hasn't yet."

"Then go back persuading him. Nothing is going to happen until he agrees."

Chevy stood for a moment, looking down at the floor. It was clear to Hiroki that he didn't plan on leaving any time soon.

"Yes?"

"You're great at talking people into things!" he bursted out. "You must have something that you can help me with!"

"...What makes you think that?" the man asked, raising an interested eyebrow.

"You manipulate and cheat like a master. You choose and follow your words to the letter. You always have something that you can use to argue back," he pointed out. "Even someone as stubborn as my big brother won't win against you."

"...How harsh. I feel like I'm being accused. Was that suppose to be complimenting or insulting?" Hiroki asked with a small smile, then cut the embarrassed, blushing teen off before he could apologize. "Enough, enough. It's fine, I'm just teasing you. If you really want a suggestion, I'll give you one, but if you don't want to go through with it or if it doesn't work, it's not my fault, got it?"

Which explained how_ this_ happened.

"W-What the hell is this!" Mustang screamed, his eyeballs popping out of their sockets. All around them, activities stopped. Kidd and Killer exchanged looks. Sloth raised an eyebrow. Zinc looked on impassively. Perry, who was braiding Arria's hair at the moment, turned around as her mother did, and watched. Hiroki stood leaning against the mast, the smallest smirk on his face. "Chevy, get up! I'm trying to mop the floor! What are you doing?"

"Aniki, I'm trying to help you," his younger brother said with all honesty.

"If you want to help me, you won't kneel on the floor!" he barked.

"I'm not getting up until you promise to get the arm!"

"...What arm- WHAT THE HELL, CAMRY?"

"This is a fine idea," the cook commented, also kneeling.

A light bulb lit up above Chuckie's head. He left the game he was playing with Ren and scrambled to join them.

"Are you all ganging up against me or something?" Mustang shouted in panic, backing off. "Alright, who's 'brilliant' idea is this? Get up already! You're scaring me!"

"We want you to get a fake arm," Chuckie piped out, then turned to Chevy. "Wait, how long are we suppose to kneel?"

"Until he agrees."

"Ooh... Aniki, can you agree already? My knees are starting to hurt."

"YOU'VE ONLY BEEN KNEELING FOR FIVE SECONDS!" Camry barked.

"NUH UH, IT WAS TEN SECONDS!"

In the background, Kidd snickered as the cook and the mascot began to have a screaming match, only to be pinched on the cheek by his first mate. The two went back to their own conversation, leaving the family business be. An amused look formed on Arria's face as Perry started to braid her hair again, one enjoying the noise and the other ignoring. Hiroki had gone over to the doctor's side, explaining what this was all about. Zinc had not moved from his stance or changed his expression.

"CHEVY, THIS IS YOUR IDEA, ISN'T IT?" Mustang accused.

"...Yes."

"WELL IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"I'm not trying to be funny! What's wrong with getting a new arm? What's wrong with not having us worry about what will happen to you if you get off the ship? You won't even be able to protect yourself like this!"

"I can _too_ protect myself!" his big brother objected. "You people worry too damn much for your own good!"

"WE ONLY WORRY BECAUSE WE CARE!" Chevy shouted.

Mustang reeled back at the force of his voice as the trapper lowered his head, eyes casted down, looking slightly ashamed that he'd screamed that loud. "T- That's..."

"Yeah, we love you, Aniki," Chuckie said, looking up at him with a pouting face. "You're too stubborn for _your_ own good."

"I don't care if you're older than me! I demand that you get a new arm!" Camry reinforced.

"You- You guys are really pushing this!" Mustang said, feeling intimidated. "Oi, oi, don't be ridiculous! I'm living just fine!"

Hiroki decided to take this chance and barge in. "Let's be rational, Mustang-san. Optimism isn't bad, but obliviousness is. Your family's begging you, are you going to say no to your little brothers now?" he pointed out with a smile. "Besides, I have the blueprint and all the components for the arm ready. It's going to be fine."

"...Somehow you're involved in this too, aren't you?"

"I feel accused once again..."

The gunner looked at each and every one of them, a struggling look on his face. They really didn't understand his philosophy; what happened will be what happened. So what? But... They had a point too, he hadn't left the ship since Sparts, and he itched to go out again. That, and the sight of them just kneeling there pained his heart.

"All right! You won this time! I'll do it!" he declared, a new determination pushing forward and blooming within him. He turned on Hiroki as his brothers high-fived and cheered. "LET'S GO! LET'S DO THE SURGERY NOW! I AM READY!"

The shipwright sweat-dropped. "Calm down. I say that I have a blueprint and the components done, but you have to wait three more days so I can get the proper measurements and put it together. Sloth-san also needs the time to plan out the actual surgery-"

"WHAT? YOU HYPED ME UP FOR IT AND NOW YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO DO IT?" he barked.

"We are, we just need three more days..."

"I FEEL RIPPED OFF!"

* * *

**SLOTH ("Hell Breather")  
**DEAD OR ALIVE  
80,000,000 beri

_"...Beware... Eustass "Captain" Kidd... one of "Hell Kaiser" Ante's former commander... highly dangerous and wanted... the "Hell Kaiser" not dead? Or killed by "Captain" Kidd... no answer from the marines..."_

* * *

In One Part and the Other

At the front deck, Killer slowly walked towards the little girl near the Operation room. No one else was seen around them, except from Ren, who peered down from the Crow's Nest, cooing with appreciation at his presence. He supposed that Arria had trusted them enough, seeing as the woman was back in her room, leaving her daughter out here alone. That was a good sign, he decided.

Perry glanced at him as soon as he was within the two meters range, then turned back to the life-size wooden doll that Hiroki had given to her, brushing the identical white hair. She had gotten her giver to carve a face, and Chevy to paint the eyes red. The girl and her mannequin copy was an eerie sight to behold.

_One of these days..._ the man thought with exasperation, Hiroki flashing through his mind. _...I'll need to _talk_ to that guy._

At least, she didn't look as if she minded.

"Hello, Killer-san," she greeted in her quiet voice. "Do you like her hair?"

He snapped out of his thought and answered her. "Looks lovely."

"Thank you," she said as she kept on brushing it.

"Perry," the masked man began, sitting down beside her. She immediately stopped and turned to him again. "Arria... She's the only one who teaches you reading and writing, am I right?"

He got a nod. "Arria-san doesn't let me be around other people much because she said that they might try to do bad things to us, so they couldn't teach me."

There was another thing that had been bugging him. "You do know that that woman is your mother, don't you?"

"She is."

"Then why don't you call her 'Mother'?"

"Arria-san doesn't like it when I do that. It scares her."

Killer frowned, but decided to let it go. Difference in family, he supposed. "When did she start teaching you? Can you tell me what happened?"

Perry set the comb aside, held the hair all in her hand, and began rotating it slowly. "I think I was five when Arria-san bought me a book," she replied. "She wanted to teach me how to write the alphabet so I can read, and tried to make me memorize it. It seemed pretty easy the first day, and she was happy when I got five letters done. But then the next day I forgot how to pronounce and write them. It took me four months to learn all twenty-six letters, and I still get them confused some times. She was upset because she thought that I would be able to read words in a year, which didn't happen."

"...Then?"

"Then she noticed that I like to draw, so she made me draw the word and write it. I memorize them better this way, and I can almost get all the letters now. I just need to concentrate when I read, but I read really slow."

Killer nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"I read the book... but then Arria-san lost it while we were escaping some marines, so I haven't read anything since then. She kept refreshing me though; she did write stories on the ground for me and make me spell words. Then she started teaching me math a year ago," she finished, looking at him again. "I'm learning the times table now."

"...Has she ever told that there's anything... _different_ about your learning process?"

Perry paused and thought about it for a moment, then shook her head no.

"All right," he said, getting up. "You keep playing."

"Okay... Killer-san," the girl called again, making him turn around. She was smiling at him. "I think you have very pretty hair."

At the back deck, Chuckie was watching Kidd doing something entirely out of normalcy. The captain stared down the piece of wrinkled paper with a wrinkled forehead deep in concentration, nibbling the top of a quill. Black ink was dripping down from the sharp tip. The crew mascot couldn't be more amazed. He was actually attempting to _write_ something?

"Oi, Shrimp," Kidd called, snapping the boy to attention. "How do you spell 'Whatever'?"

_Uh..._ A mischievous grin formed on Chuckie's face.

"W-O-T-E-V-A-H!" he spelt out for him.

Kidd struggled to keep up with him. "'V-A-H' at the end?"

"Uh huh," said Chuckie, nodding and wondering what the Boss was writing.

"And how do you spell 'sorry'?"

"...S-O-W-W-Y... Who are you writing to? Is it Killer-san?"

"None of your business!"

* * *

**ZINC ("Cadet" Zinc)  
**DEAD OR ALIVE  
30,000,000 beri

_"...A 'demon' of Sparts... Now serving under "Captain" Kidd... Reasons unknown as to how he came about... pending the idea that the Kidd pirates might have visited Sparts... Marines have sent a ship to Sparts... Accompanied the attack... responsible for..."_

Akainu was not mentioned once in the article.

* * *

Whatever He Did

To say that Killer was pleased was an understatement. He could not remember the last time he'd been so happy, currently reading the scribbles on the paper that was Kidd's essay, which the redhead had reluctantly and unhappily wrote. It wasn't the content of the essay that made him happy- the essay was on, weird enough, grill cheese and Kidd's argument that eating it with tomato soup sucked. It was the fact that Kidd _wrote_. And it was legible.

The last five days had been wonders after wonders. Even he had to smack himself for not seeing the obvious before.

He was brought up on hardcore reading, severe memorization, and extreme studying. It never occurred to him before that people learned differently when he started trying to teach Kiddd. Yet, with a little twist here and a change there, Kidd was absorbing more in these five days than in the three or four months that the masked man had been trying to cram all the information down his throat. The speed at which the redhead was getting concepts was mind-blowing compared to before.

Killer also didn't know that seeing someone else accomplishing something could even make him this happy.

He opened the door to the captain's room, and peered inside, seeing Kidd sprawled on his bed, sleeping. A twinge of guilt squeezed his stomach as he closed the entrance and walked away, thinking back on all the belittling and ridiculing with regret. Maybe he was being too absurd and hard on him all along. Kidd wasn't stupid at all.

_But it's still fun to call him that,_ he decided with a lighter heart as he headed for his own room. _And sometimes, he really deserved it._

_I should probably head back to his room tonight. I _have_ been avoiding him._

Why?

_Because he's immature. And he still didn't understand what he's doing. _It didn't matter to him than Kidd had gotten all the physical aspects down, and as long as that reminder stuck, he couldn't shake the uncertainty from his mind. _If he's not mentally ready..._

_I'm underestimating him again, aren't I?_

All this time, his heart was leaping fast, and the warmest feeling stirred his inside. He hadn't felt like this in a long time either.

"Damn it," Killer whispered to himself as he disappeared into his room. "I really worry too fucking much. There's no way-" His self-talk stopped the moment he lifted his head, for on his bed was an alien object he'd never seen before. Suspicion and confusion ran together as he approached it.

The thing was a red silk rash, cleanly washed and folded. Although it looked as if it might have been an antique, it somehow still seemed like the cloth was made just yesterday. The masked man picked it up, and a note fell out.

He frowned.

..._Kidd?_

It read, _"Wotevah I did, Im sowwy."_

* * *

**End Note:** I don't think that I can keep up with the three-days-per-update thing anymore. I feel like I'm killing myself here. ._. If chapters are short, they have too little substances, if they're long, they take too much time to write, and this summer turned out to be as busy as fuck. *Is still going to try*

Name: Perry

Eye: Red

Age: 8

Hair: White

Height: A little shorter than Chuckie

Fighting Ability: None, but that's right now. 2YL is a whole another deal.

Interests: Hear stories, braid hair and do hairdos, play with dolls, observe anything for a long period of time, sleep, her mother

Characteristics: She's very, very quiet, a bit slow when it comes to certain things, mature for her age, and almost unnaturally calm about things unless she's physically assaulted, then she would cry. It''s very hard to scare her. I'll say it, she's not that big of a character and doesn't do that much; I created her solely because of Arria, otherwise she'd never happen. Therefore, her personality will be as simple as you see it, with developments to come.

One Unique Thing About Her: Albinism

Do you guys see the similarity between her and Kidd? You should all notice by now, considering how I made _Chuckie_ point it out and give Killer a full scene for it. Yes, both her and Kidd (in this fic) are dyslexic. Come on, a raise of hand; who reading this so far never considered this possibility and just thought that Kidd is dumb for stupidity's sake? Well... he's stupid and I often use it for comedy relief, but he's not _stupid_. There's a difference. If you would take into consideration, Kidd only had one year of formal schooling, had no parents that act like proper parents with the exception of the village mayor who didn't do that much, and lived most of his life in the woods with little interaction with people. He's actually quite intellectually capable if you look closely. He just doesn't like books. :P And no, it's a reason, not an excuse. Killer's going all out on him now that he knows.

Honestly, this is how I feel about all the OP characters that people deem dumb. They're _not_, they have their moments- some more than others- but let's face it, Zoro (who's direction-illiterate), and Luffy (who's hyperactive and generally immature and dumb as shit) are fucking combat/fighting geniuses. Their IQs lack nothing.

That being said, I will still continue to make fun of them, because they're amusing. I just don't actually mean it. =u=

And yes, Chuckie spelt those words wrong on purpose.

Edit: The whole right-handed-left-handed thing with Kidd is based on a true story. Happened to a left-handed friend of mine. She writes with the correct hand now.


	68. Mama Mia

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, Lunatic-With-A-Pen, Cloverskeet, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl _and _Black Hyacinth_ for reviewing! To tell the truth, I don't really like this next arc because the only purpose it serves is to drag time out and make things like Mustang's arm and Kidd's development a little more plausible, and releases some OCs from my crammed little mind, of course. This is as filler as a filler arc can get. So why would I write this instead of just stretching out the in-between trip? Yeah, well... Read it. You'll get why.

* * *

Kidd dreamt of the kitchen floor of his parents' house.

Glass shards from beer bottles and the bubbly yellow liquor covered the dirty tiles. Someone was cursing outside as door slamming rang through the air. It was a rather familiar scene, one that Kidd had witnessed for a major part of his younger life. For some reason, he could tell that he was only three years old in this dream. He was sprawling in his own corner near the shelf of half broken vases and plates and the sack of rice leaning against the side. On his other side was the dirty wall where he had used to draw pictures on with his fingers. Drool fell out the corner of his mouth and his stomach gave hungry growls.

_Mommy?_ his childish mind thought, looking for his mother. Strange, he didn't remember what she looked like, couldn't even recall her name. Maybe she had black hair? Yes, both of his parents had black hair, unlike him. _Mommy, I'm hungry._

There was the sound of dishes clanking in the sink, the sound of running water. Someone was here. The toddler turned up, half of his mind in his child state, half in his adult, and saw in front of him the back of the blond hair, blue jeans and polka dot shirt that he hadn't expected. _Killer?_

Killer was washing the dishes.

"Mommy?" the three year old called.

The head of his first mate turned, and his consciousness within this dream cried out with a mix of emotions, knowing full well that Killer was unmasked here. _I'll not suppose to see his face! I'm not suppose to see- What does he look like? I want to see it! I'm going to be the King of Pirates, and take off his mask, and make him bow-_

The child side's mentality cut him off, and so did the revealing of the face.

"Mommy, I'm hungwy."

Killer had his mother's face. Never mind that Kidd didn't remember what that woman looked like, he somehow knew it. The sight was surreally bizarre; his mother's face could never compliment blond hair, that much he recalled, but it was her face! It was her face on Killer's head!

And she was staring out the corner of her eyes at him- her child- with cold disdain. "What are you doing in my house?" Killer asked.

_My mother or Killer? Who is this person?_

"Get out."

"I'm hungwy," he found himself keep on saying as he felt his eyes watering. His breath came out faster, and he began to sniff, trying not not to let tears leak. _Why won't you feed me? _He got up on his feet and waddled towards her the best he could, arms held out as he sobbed. A flood of bitterness and hatred filled his older self, knowing all too well of just how often this had happened. _Why won't you hold me?_ "Mommy?" _Killer, is that you?_ The mix-mash of the two people backed off from him, that distant expression never changed. "I love you, mommy."

Killer continued to stare with his mother's cold eyes, and disappeared from the room as if she was never there.

If he was an older child, he wouldn't have cared. He would hate it, yes, but he had long accepted that she didn't care for him either. He had long ran away from home. But, he was three in the dream, and the dream told him to cry. The dream told him that his mother never loved him.

But why Killer?

_Because he'll never love you either, just like your mother._

And in no time, both sides of him started to cry, the younger out of hurt, the older out of denying anguish. _That's not true!_ Silver flashed through his mind.

_He'll leave you like she did. You know he will._

_Kidd... Kidd... Kidd..._ that same voice whispered to him. The dream whirled out of control. _You are only the child of the Devil, and no one else's..._

Somewhere within this maelstrom, a horrid shriek of pain of a woman pounded in his skull. He couldn't tell if it was his mother, if the dream had modified Killer's scream, or if it was someone else altogether. The voice cried in pure agony, like an animal undergoing torture. His head throbbed. Cold sweat broke out all over as he tossed and turned in fury, and with a flinch he woke in the middle of the night on his bed, panting hard like he'd ran the entire Grand Line.

Almost immediately, he reached over to the left side of the bed where Killer was sleeping and felt for the helmet, letting out a sigh of relief when his hand touch the steel mask. The hand remained there, and something within him nearly made him take it off because he didn't want to doubt on the fact that Killer and his mother couldn't have been the same person. Then he mentally slapped himself. Of course, how ridiculous. His mother died before he'd met Killer. He saw her and his father's dead bodies, and saw that their house was in shambles. Besides, one was a man, and the other a woman. What the hell was he thinking, or dreaming about, to be more politically correct? Killer was nothing like her; his first mate would never leave him.

The unsettling feeling didn't end there either, because this wasn't the first dream he had involving Killer. This sort of dream had been occurring every other night now, more frequent when Killer was with him than not. He had lost count of how many times he had killed his first mate. If it didn't end like that, it'd end with Killer betraying him, replaying bad memories of them together in Ghanga's crew, or Killer taking on the form of someone he once hated, like his parents or any villagers or childhood bullies he couldn't even remember the names of. In a way, if he didn't know better, he would've thought that his dreams were trying to tell him something.

_But that's stupid. Dreams are dreams, and Killer's not going anywhere or turning into anyone else._

_Weird-ass nightmares._

And he went back to sleep.

* * *

The thing that woke the crew up was not the sighting of the island, but a blizzard of snow that hit the ship in layers. Hiroki took one look at the outside, huddling in his blanket, and announced, "Seems like we've come to a winter island." This resulted in half of the crew groaning and swearing, and the other half getting shovels and clearing the decks. It wasn't that great of a morning, considering that by the time they docked, the snow was just as high as it first was. At least, the storm had stopped.

The island itself was coated in white, but the gray sky was close to black even though it was day time, the clouds constantly stormy. Red ribbons, mistletoes and tiny lights on strings hung everywhere possible. A tall mountain encircled the other side of town, shielding its people from the view. Small snow storms scattered everywhere in a way that one could walk into a circle of a storm and come out the other side in only ten minutes. There were also a lot of bells, chiming a faint tune that was nearly inaudible to ears.

"Oi," Mustang called, stepping out on the main deck, and stretching his limbs. His new pseudo arm rattled as it moved, and he looked at it most happily. The surgery, performed just two days ago, fucking _hurt_ like the ninth circle of Hell! He was so sure that he'd be muted from all the screaming. Now, it didn't hurt at all. "I'm going outside!" the oldest brother said cheerily.

"You better rest for another day or two, Aniki," Camry told him with a scowl on his face. "Something like that isn't quick to heal. You'd be running around if we let you off and make it a lot worse!"

"Huh? What you talking about?" Mustang shot back. "I'm fine! You hear me? I'm fine, jackass! Don't tell your big bro what to do! I'm heading off for humanity at last~!"

The cook's scowl worsened, and he turned to the rest of them. "Someone stop him!" he barked.

"Don't bother. Let him go," Killer said, walking down the stairs from the second floor onto the deck. "He's been stuck here for weeks after all. I'll watch the ship this time with..." He glanced to his side behind the mask, and saw Ren panting with delight not far away. "...That slime. I have things to look over. Here's the list and five million beri in cash. It's mostly food we need. Split the errand between your brothers if you like. Sloth's taking the supplies one."

The cook nodded and took the list, and hollered for the other three Chucks. Chevy answered, Chuckie ran for Hiroki instead, who was climbing down the ship onto land with a roll of cash in his hand. Everyone watched him go with unease suspicion.

"I'm just going to make some money," the shipwright answered with all the casualness in the world.

"DON'T GAMBLE!" they barked at him.

"Then how else can I make money?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer, left with the youngest brother tagging after him.

"Damn that bastard! He's going to cheat again, I just know it!" Kidd hissed, then turned to see the crew's newest members coming from their room. Perry immediately ran for Mustang, and tugged on the man's leather jacket, an action that brought a surprised look on her mother's face.

"Perry, what are you-"

"Can I go with Mustang-niisan today?" she pleaded with a smile. "If I have to go with you, I'd have to hide in your cloak. I can pretend to be his little sister and it'd be all right. There don't seem to be marines on this island either."

"But-"

"Don't worry, Arria," Mustang assured, giving her his trademark teeth-sparkling grin and a thumb up. "I am a world class babysitter with seven years of experience! You won't find anyone better than me!"

"You mean a world class pedo?" the woman snorted back, not at all convinced, crossing her arms in disapproval.

"What? I resent that, lady!" he barked with outrage. "I'm not a pedophile!"

"You look the part, therefore you are!" she declared.

"THAT'S NOT ONLY SHALLOW BUT ALSO INACCURATE! YOU'RE A HORRIBLE JUDGE OF PERSON!" he shouted back. "HOW DARE YOU JUDGE ME SO SHALLOWLY AND INACCURATELY?"

"CHANGE THE HAIR AND I MIGHT RECONSIDER!" she snarled.

He gasped and reeled away as if he could not believe what he was hearing, glaring at her and clutching his precious rockabilly hairdo. "MY HAIR IS MY PRIDE AND JOY, WOMAN! THAT'S THE SAME THING AS ASKING A MAN TO CUT HIS BALLS OFF! UNTHINKABLE!"

"I think his hair is cool," Perry said quietly.

"Aha! She thinks my hair is cool!" He beamed with a smudge look on his face as Arria's eyes twitched in annoyance.

"But-"

"Please?" Perry begged.

The word and the pleading look earned a sigh from her. Arria adjusted the bandages on her head, forehead furrowed as she shot a glare towards the oldest Chuck brother, who gave her another thumb up. "Fine, fine, but if anything happens to her," the swordswoman threatened, her expression suddenly turning sinister and her hand drawing her sword out just enough for the blade to reflect light for him to see. "I'll cut off both your hair _and _your balls!"

"All right!" came the happy cheer as he placed the girl around his neck, her legs dangling from either shoulders and her hands holding onto his hair for support.

"And Perry, put on a coat before you catch a cold."

Mustang leaped off the ship even before one could say "pedophile", and ran off for the snow-covered town as if he was nine years old and not twenty nine.

Then like lightning, Arria bandaged her sword into a clutch, strapped a bag onto her back, put on a tattered, beaten black cloak, and bent over, her hunchback completed. She started to wrap her braid around her neck.

"What the hell, bitch? Of all the disguises you could've picked!" her captain barked at her.

"Shut up!" she snapped, putting the hood over her head and shifting her position into the old-woman stance. She waved her "cane" at him and continued in her croaking ancient crone voice, "Disrespectful hooligans! Learn some manners! I am old!"

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" he screamed as she ignored him and jumped off the ship as well, wobbling down the snow road. "Goddamnit!" he seethed at Killer. "LOOK HOW STUPID SHE LOOKS!"

"I find that ironic coming from you," his first mate said dryly.

Pretty soon, Sloth emerged out from the infirmary with a bag over his shoulder, and spared glances at the arguing captain and first mate before leaving as well. Zinc waited until Kidd and Killer were done, and followed the redhead, who was scowling and grumbling with rage under his breath. Kidd glanced between all the tracks made by his nakamas, undecided whether to make his own or join up with one of them, also having no knowledge of which belonging to whom. Eventually pissed off by all this, he unknowingly picked Hiroki's track and headed off to the entertainment part of the town.

* * *

In a nicer part of the neighborhood, Mustang, energetically humming under his breath, held Perry's hand as they strolled down a street of houses. The sight of other children outside playing games fascinated the little girl, who gazed at each and every group of kids they passed by with longing in her eyes, wanting to join and play with them. Their laughter was a foreign but warming sound to her ears. She had never dared to laugh as loud as they were.

"What a great place!" the man exclaimed out loud, looking around contently at his surrounding as they walked out from there and into a busier shopping area. "Remind me of Cambell Float! That's my brothers and I's native island, ya know, kiddo? Great place, full of worms like Ren!" "Really?" "Uh huh, and most of them are way bigger than that little pipsqueak! You'll like it there- Oh look! There's a cotton candy stand!"

"What's cotton candy?" she asked. She had heard candies, and once had a lollipop. Arria-san had stolen it for her.

"Only the greatest thing in the world!" he told her, fishing money out of his pocket. "You wait here, little lady, I'll be right back!" She nodded, not that he noticed, as he was too busy making his way to the stand.

Perry stood against the window of a shop as she observed him arriving at said sweet stand a minute later. Another minute passed as the teenage boy selling the candies spun two sticks for him. And a third minute passed before he headed back.

"Here!" He shoved a pink puff in her face, startling her.

"Uh...Thank you."

Without paying heed to her appreciation, he grabbed her hand again and dragged her off, wolfing down his own cotton candy. They resumed down the street, one unaware of all the stares and whispers they were generating, the other taking a small bite of the cotton before she noticed everyone looking their way. For a moment, Perry's calm heart jumped in fear, thinking that the people here recognized her and thus linked her to her mother. Guilt filled her as some of the citizens approached closer to them with angry looks on their faces. She moved closer to Mustang, who was finishing his cotton with oblivious delight, and thought about telling him about this fearful notion.

_Arria-san..._ she thought as her stomach sank. The sweetness of the candy melted and left a scary taste in her mouth. The syrup was making her lips sticky.

Someone threw a pan at them. It smacked Mustang right on the back of his head.

"WHAT THE HELL?" the man screamed, whirling around. An angry crowd had gathered behind them, all holding some form of household equipment. "OI, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, PEOPLE?"

"Don't listen to him! Rescue the girl!" a woman shouted. "I saw him luring her with a stick of cotton candy! Look, she's eating it right now!"

"You disgusting pedophile, get off our streets and keep your hands off the kids!" a man screamed, coming at them with a broom.

"Hold it, hold it!" Mustang protested, waving his arms in futile defense. "You got it all wrong-"

"CHILD MOLESTER!" they thundered as one, and began charging like a stampede, hurling random miscellaneous projectiles at him. He screamed back in fright, scooped the girl up and ran down the road from the hateful mob, continuing to scream on the top of his lungs as he speeded away as fast as he could.

All the while, he thought to himself, _Wait, why is this scenario so familiar?_

* * *

In another part of the island, Chevy and Camry were stopped in mid-step when a restaurant suddenly had their glass window broken open and a chair hurled out onto the street. Inside, the manager- as he seemed like- boomed angrily as a familiar voice rasped back at him. Seconds later, an old woman was chased out; she leaped through the window and tumbled on the street, whirled around and shook her "cane" towards the place with rage.

"-AND STAY OUT!" the manager shouted, sticking him head from the door. "DON'T TRY TO RIP US OFF!"

"CHEAP! YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A WAITER!" Arria shrieked back. "ALL I ASKED FOR WAS WATER! _WATER!_ YOU CAN'T EVEN SPARE THAT TO AN OLD LADY WITH A _HUNCHBACK_? I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOUR VILE PLACE SHALL BE DEFILED OF ALL BUSINESS WITHIN THIS MONTH!"

The manager's face lit up bright red. "IF YOU CAN'T PAY, DON'T COME IN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! JUST YOU WAIT, OLD WOMAN, I'LL CALL THE PEOPLE FROM MAMA'S 'HOME' AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR THE DAMAGE! TROUBLESOME HAG!"

"HOW DARE YOU!" she roared, not hearing him completely. "I WILL SHOVE THIS CANE UP YOUR ASSHOLE BEFORE-"

Having stood there for some good minute watching this bickering, Camry jumped into the conflict and shielded the manager from potential physical assault and Arria from inflicting any more damage. His younger bother followed his suit, instantly began apologizing to the angry man, who was glaring dagger at them. "Sorry about her, sir," the teen said, bowing his head in weariness. "She uh- She has temper issues and-" "I do not have temper issues!" "- We'll pay for your window and take her home. I'm very sorry about all the trouble she'd caused."

"Is that old coot your granny or something?"

"Uh, she's... Yes, she is," he said, nodding after a few seconds of contemplation, "Our grandma. She's old. And a bit crazy." To which Arria furiously responded by screaming at him in her old woman voice and wacking the "cane" over his head a couple of times as Camry tried to calm her down.

"The repairment's gonna be around three million beri! Hand it over!" the manager declared, holding out a hand for the money.

Chevy retrieved the bills from his large pouch and forked it over, looking a bit hesitant. They were only a quarter of the way done with their shopping with more expensive things to come, which meant that they had to go back to the ship half way and get more money from Killer. The amount was snatched out of his hand with a huff before he could change his mind. With that, the door slammed in their faces and the manager glared down at Arria-in-disguise through the large hole in the glass. She hissed back in all the manner worthy of a cat, but was ushered away by the cook, who sensed upcoming danger if she remains there a moment longer.

"Keep your granny under control, you heard me? Someone like her should be locked up in a mental ward!" the manager said before hollering for someone to clean up the mess on the street.

"Of course, of course..." Chevy reassured him, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of his head.

He bowed and apologize a few times more until he joined up with the other two.

Camry was well into screaming at her by then. "What the hell is _your_ damn problem causing trouble like that? That was three million beri that we could have spent on something more useful than cleaning up after you!"

"You!" she enunciated with equal anger. "Are a disrespectful, ill-mannered _brat_! You have no sense of courtesy towards elders!"

"We're technically the same age, woman!" he barked.

"We are _not_!"

"Don't be so convinced by your own disguise! You're hardly old!"

"I'll have you know that I have a _hunchback_!" she emphasized, as if that excused everything she had ever done.

"Doesn't mean a thing if it's not real!"

And that was how it went for the next ten minutes. Chevy purposely walked ten steps ahead, avoiding all the embarrassment and glances in their direction. He waited until it was all over before rejoining the group, stepping in between the two pissy people.

"Hmph, don't see why you two bothered to make bargains with an asshole like that waiter back there," Arria said with a sneer in her old woman voice, walking rather fast for someone who was wobbling and pretending to have a bad leg. "There are no marines on this island as far as I can see, so it won't matter _who_ we piss off! And even if there are marines, it's not as if we can't take some petty soldiers on!"

"That's not true. Didn't he threaten to get someone from some place to 'make you pay'?" Camry pointed out with a frown.

"Ah, think he was talking about that place over there," she answered, and pointed her wrapped sword towards something in the distance.

The brothers turned around to catch sight of a rather large manor of multiple floors that layered on top of one another like a cake, one layer smaller than the one below it. It was constructed on a high flat ground near the looming mountain, a grandiloquent and flamboyant structure as far as architectures go. However, what made this manor even more was the large, flashing sign on top of its roof. It read in bold letters, "HOME", and underneath that in smaller font, "_where Mama is_." Numerous hearts and bells decorated the lettering.

It looked odd to say the least.

"What is that place?" Chevy asked.

"Don't know. I overheard some people talking about it in the street, so it must be well known around here."

"A marine base in disguise?" Camry guessed, frowning as he pondered.

"Not likely," Arria said with a snort. "The World Government would have that incompetent marine captain beheaded if such captain ever exist."

* * *

This island wasn't as much a town as it was a very urban but unrestricted city due to the fact that its population was very spread out. Within half an hour and twenty million beri earned since stepping into the grandest casino in the heart of the most heavily concentrated area activity-wise, Hiroki learned the irrelevant name of the island- Half Polar-, the time a Log Pose needed to set- three months-, and the name of the manor smack dab in the center of the island upon a high hill- _HOME, where Mama is_, followed by numerous hearts decorating the the flashing sign and commonly referred to as "Mama's Home."

Hiroki, knowing that they'd either have to stay here for three months or be lost on sea if they'd leave too early, looked for any signs of people carrying Eternal Poses or set Log Poses, in hope of stealing one or gambling one into possession. So far, he had his eyes set on three, and was currently playing dice with one of the sorry bastards. The rules of this game was simple; three six-sided dice in each cup, and whoever rolled the highest number added together wins. His opponent was getting unnerved as he rolled a triple four- a higher roll than his opponent's double three and a four- and won three times in a row. Around them, a large crowd of amused spectators had gathered, some waiting to challenge the winner, other just watching for the fun of it. They all laughed at the final result.

"T- There's no way!" the unfortunate fellow sputtered, glaring at calm pirate. "You- You changed the dice without me looking! You must have!"

"Now, now, that's rather harsh. Accusing me of such rash action might get me kicked out," Hiroki rebutted, hand held out for his earned Log Pose. "Won't you rather say that I'm just very lucky today?"

Beside him, Chuckie gave him a dirty look.

The poor man slammed his Log Pose down on the table and gathered up his things. "Fuck you, you bastard!" he insulted, deciding to make the most of his loss and at least get back at the pirate verbally. Five minutes of him spewing venomous words and the crowd hooting for a fight passed before he decided that wasn't going to take any more loss for the night and ran off, leaving Hiroki smiling and looking at his prize, quite pleased with himself.

"Oi, how did you do that?" Chuckie whispered to him, tugging his sleeves and slipping a hand up there to see if there were any hidden extra dice, not that that would make much sense if he would think about it more carefully- the signs of cheating would have been obvious. The boy pulled away when he felt nothing. "C'mon, tell me!"

"No," the adult answered swiftly as another challenger- this time a well-dressed, expensively accessorized gentleman with a haughty smirk- sat himself down and brought a leg rudely on the table.

"C'mon!" the child begged with a persuasive smile. "Will you tell me if I call you... 'Hiroki-sensei'?"

"That would make me feel old, rather than pleasing me, so no," the almost-to-be sensei said, not falling for the look. "Here's one hundred thousand beri if you're bored. Run along. Get some food from the food court if you must."

Chuckie's face flushed red. "STINGY!" he cried, sticking his tongue out. "Just teach me how you do it! What's the big secret?"

"How I am going to explain to your brothers if you get us in debt?"

"Just teach me your skills! why won't you just show me?"

"You are watching me right now. What more do you need to see?"

"If you don't show me, then I'm gonna call you out as cheating!" Chuckie threatened.

"Where's your proof?"

"Well, that's- I- There's no way that- You haven't lost- I ...Hmph! I'm leaving!" And he turned around, stomping away.

"Can you bring me back an order of salmon rolls while you're at it?" Hiroki called after him. "And a bottle of cherry wine if they sell it to kids your age?"

"Go get them yourself!" the enraged child barked, and raced out of the casino.

He sighed and turned back to his impatient opposition, who'd set on the table a black brief case, an arrogant grin on his face as he opened it to reveal neat stacks of beri bills, obviously expecting someone like Hiroki to be impressed by his wealth. Other people in the crowd hooted and cheered at the sight of money. The pirate merely glanced down, glanced up, and asked. "How much?"

"One hundred million beri," the challenger said, peering at him trying to find any signs of money-lust or greed.

_Ah, that's the same amount as my gift certificate from my last birthday,_ Hiroki recalled wistfully, then remembered in disappointment that he'd lost such certificate on a vacationing trip on a boat.

"You're a merchant, sir?"

"My annual income is two hundred million beri!" He shut the case close and patted on it proudly. "My life saving's here! I'm planning to win massive amount of money with it! Twenty million per game, how does that sound, eh?"

The pirate raised an eyebrow at this. _Can he not tell how stupid he's being? Not only is he gambling his life-saving away, but he just made himself a prime target for pick pockets and professional thieves. Not that two hundred million is that much... Most merchants earn around three hundred million annually , and that's gross income. With high taxes, tariffs, insurances, license of trade renewals, other legal fees and personal consumptions, those people normally don't have shit left. And he's trying to swag around as if he's rich? A rather pitiful being he is._

"Very well, your misfortune."

They scooped three dice each into their cups, and shook the cups in the air.

_Bam!_ They slammed down on the table with concurrent precision. The two stared at each other, one with determination burning in his trembling, excited eyes, the other looking back with unfaltering, unnerving calmness.

The merchant revealed his dice first.

"Double five and a six!" he shouted, chuckling out loud, leaning forward with a smirk on his face. "Don't look so fearful now, kiddo," he said, earning a soft scoff from Hiroki, who wondered what in the world made this man think that his expression resembled fear in any ways shape or form. "It's only twenty million beri. Shell out all you earned today, and you can call expense and profit even! Hehehe!" Around him, the crowd chuckled in suit, knowing the possibilities of beating that would only be if the other rolled a double six with a five, or a-

"Triple six," Hiroki said, revealing his roll. His opponent fell silent, as did everyone else. He held out a hand, waiting for his money. "You lose. Twenty million please."

"N-Now wait a minute," the merchant sputtered, looking not all that confident all of a sudden. A protective hand landed on his briefcase as he stood up and glared at the pirate in the eyes. "How's it possible that you roll a triple six during the first game?"

"That wasn't my first game, and it's perfectly possible to roll triple six at any time," he replied with smooth-sailing innocence.

The loser's cheek flushed pink. "Don't play with me!"

"I believe the subjective of gambling is playing games, therefore, playing."

"You know what I mean! I watched you! You didn't lose even once!" he roared. "How is it possible that you don't lose!"

"Yes, that's what has been happening so far," Hiroki agreed with an uncanny smile. "I am quite skilled, won't you say?"

"You were cheating!" came the accusation. "You always show your dice after your opponent, and you always somehow ended up with a higher number! It happened too many times for it to be coincidence! You were cheating!"

All around them, their audience shuffled nervously and glanced at the two, either waiting for a fight to start or Hiroki to expose himself. In the crowd, several of his ex-challenger tried to push through, seeing a chance to reclaim their losses. His smile fell and he stood up, a good half a head taller than his accuser at full height. He leaned forward, closing their distance.

"Prove it."

"I- I don't have to prove a thing!" No doubt, by how the merchant was backing away and turning pale, that he was feeling intimidated.

"Then you will hand over my money," Hiroki demanded in a low voice, gazing down at him with narrowed, warning eyes. By now, the casino's guards had rushed over, catching wind the commotion.

"You- You were-"

He no longer had to elaborate any further.

A body flew and crashed into the nearest window, the glass shattering into a million pieces, spraying all across the waxed floor and onto the nearby tables- one of which was Hiroki's. The thrown person frantically got up, yelping and crying like a little girl as he scrambled to get away from whatever danger coming after him. Blood was gushing out from his head and nose, and there were marks of deep cuts on his arms, legs and chest, and blemish sores colored his cheeks and forehead, like someone had done his face in. Everyone whispered and huddled together away from him, fearing what might come next.

"Save me! He's crazy! A pirate! Save-"

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE NOW, YOU BASTARD!" the familiar voice of Eustass 'Captain' Kidd roared as he announced his presence with a floor-breaking landing, his left arm enormous with metallic weapons gathering and Zinc swift on his right, ready to kill at his order. "AM I GOING TO BE THE KING OF PIRATES? TELL ME YOUR ANSWER FROM BEFORE!"

_So _that's_ what happened..._ Hiroki glanced down at the near death fellow on the ground next to him.

"Calm down, Sencho, you're scaring everyone in here," he pleaded. Kidd paid no attention to him.

"Well?" the captain hissed, advancing closer to his victim, who was trying to scramble away, desperately looking around for any who would help him. "Who is the King of Pirates!"

"Now you're just being childish."

"Shut up, Hiroki!" Kidd snapped, not taking his eyes off his prey. "You should be helping me! That son of a bitch dared to laugh in my face!"

Instantly, the already suspicious crowd around Hiroki backed from him knowing the knowledge that he was a pirate, and whispers washed over the place, no doubt trying to pry from each other of who these criminal were. The security guards tensed and looked at each other, not knowing what to do about it. Kidd was a dangerous-looking devil of a man, and none of them were brave enough to try standing up to him. If only there were marines on this island, if only-

"No answer?" Kidd's face twisted into a malicious half-sneer, half-smirk. His arm cranked above him, eager to kill.

"If you dare to kill someone at this place," one of the braver guards spoke up. "You _will_ be arrested and be shipped to a marine base to be executed as- AAAAAH!" Pieces of the arm had dropped in front of him, effectively silencing him.

"I remember him!" someone suddenly cried. "He's Eustass Kidd, the rookie who attacked a marine base and started a volcano eruption on Mt. Hera just a week ago! He destroyed that island with his power!"

"Then that roach-person beside him is-"

"And him!" Eyes flew to the pirate shipwright. "He's been in this casino for over an hour! How can you guards let in a pirate and not know?"

Hiroki, observing his captain, found himself frowning. Kidd was acting a little too... -He searched in his head for the right word- violent? _No, he's always violent._

_But this?_ His frown grew deeper the longer he stared at the devilish expression as the guards were throwing back further, some whimpering and crying by their injuries. The people around them were screaming and running away, causing a general ruckus, and Kidd looked rather pleased by all this. _He never _enjoyed_ someone's pain before. It's 'sadistic' I was looking for after all. _

_How very unusual. _He did not like this abnormality.

"P- Pirate..." the merchant he was gaming with earlier stuttered. Hiroki turned to see his legs shaking. "You- You're 'Dead Eyes'?"

"Nice to meet you," he said back coldly. "I would ask for your name too, but you owe me twenty million beri, and I would appreciate it if you hand it over-"

"AAAAAAHHH!" The man flung his brief case in the air and high tailed out of the back door like everyone else.

Hiroki caught the case just in time to see Kidd running past him for the escaping victim, snarling something along the lines of "Don't think you're gonna get away with this!" Gaming machines blew apart by his Devil Fruit power and tables topped over, wooden legs breaking. Token pieces, cards and money flew in the air.

_WHAM!_

_Bam! Bam!_ Gunfire rang at them. The bullets hit Zinc resulting in little or no harm, got repelled off by Kidd, and dodged by Hiroki. Half of the people were out of the back door with the other half beating each other to death trying to get out when it happened.

The man that Kidd had been chasing after suddenly whirled around. A look of absolute horror washed over his face as he began walking back to Kidd. Hiroki glanced up in puzzlement, seeing him trying to fight against his movement. Kidd, however, didn't see this unusualness, swung his pseudo-arm to end the bastard's life and-

"What the-"

_Who is this?_

"Fuhrer Zidd! Do you intend to leave this barbarian for me to take care of, since you've stopped attack?" Bat-chan asked, stepping forward. True enough, the edge of Kidd's "index finger" was only millimeters away from colliding with his victim's head. Both were froze, unable to move. The people who were running before glanced back, unsure of what was happening, their curiosity triumphing over their fear.

"Who the hell are you!" Kidd snarled, too enraged to be bothered with Zinc. "Come out, you bastard! I'll fucking kill you!"

There was a moment of dead silence.

Then, a laughter rang out in the clear open as footsteps echoed around the breathless room. Whispers stirred the fearful, anxious crowd. Hiroki's heart beat in rhyme with the walking pattern. _Thud... Thud... Thud..._

"Is that a promise, Rookie? Fufufufu..."

Blood drained from his face as he recognized the voice's owner.

"D-Doflamingo-sama!" the head of the guards stuttered, him and his men shaking.

Donquixote Doflamingo stepped out from the shadows in his stooping stature. Hiroki took one more second to stare at him before slowly backing away from the table he was hiding behind, decided to wait for the right moment to escape, lest he become a target for the warlord. Kidd, not even given the option to crank his neck, could only glare at his flamboyant captor out the corner of his furious amber eyes, struggling against the control of the Devil Fruit as his own victim was. Zinc had turned his attention towards this new presence, ready to attack at command. The crowd stood frozen where they were, petrified.

"You have a _much_ better fashion sense than I'd anticipated, Kidd-chan~!" the Shichibukai complimented with the uttermost approval, circling Kidd twice. "Spiky furcoat, goggles, black nails..." His grin stretched wide. "..._lipsticks! _Fufufu! I expected nothing less from the rookie who managed to take down a wing of my biggest money-bringer! What a fateful encounter for me to see you here today! Perhaps, it's _destiny_." He leaned closer to the younger until their noses nearly touched, and licked his lips wet.

_Is he coming on to the captain or just fooling around?_ Hiroki thought with amusement.

"Who the fuck are you, okama?" the redhead snapped with disgust, not liking this at all. "Get the hell away from me!"

_Sencho, you yourself fit the definition of 'okama' in all ways possible._

"Potty, potty mouth!" Doflamingo scolded him, snapped the fingers on his right hand, and the head of Kidd's victim was severed clean off. The headless body falling on the ground wiped color off of everyone's faces. Screams of fright rang out at the sight. "How nasty of you, child! Fufufu~ You broke my heart!"

"Don't fuck around with me, bastard!" The pseudo arm rustled again as its master attempted to fight against his bind again, having as little success as all his other attempts.

"Oh, but I'll enjoy it!"

Zinc suddenly started going mad, swinging his trident as war cries roared from his lungs, charging towards the people and killing a few as phantoms streaks shot out and hit, streaking the walls, blasting apart furniture. Without even a chance to stop him, Hiroki watched as Kidd's left limb swung as well, his entire body rotating in response to the movement, the entire stack of weapons crashing up towards the ceiling where bright chandeliers had lit the whole room. The attack sent the place into a horrifying darkness of cries and screams. Sounds of glass crashing onto the ground furthered the chaos. Everyone was fighting to get out. Doflamingo's laugh echoed as did Kidd's outraged loud swearing as Zinc's constant shout for orders to be given.

Hiroki, with the brief case of money in possession, turned towards the brighter outside, deciding that he should get out and wait for his crew mates, because surely they could take care of themselves.

"How cruel! You're leaving your nakamas in there to fend for themselves, Hiro-chan," the low voice whispered into his ear, stilling him dead in his track.

An arm wrapped itself around his chest, clenching his shoulder. Shock drained his senses for a second, thinking that the warlord was going to finish him off. He lifted a hand in a try to fight, only to find that his movements were no longer under his control. The hand clenched tighter, then snaked around his neck, the long fingernails scratching mildly at his skin. He shifted his eyes just enough to catch sight of the magenta sunglasses.

"Yes, I've heard quite a lot about you from Rosier-chan! I always like the quiet ones the best," he heard Doflamingo slur with a chuckle, tracing his lower jawline. "Their tears and their screams give the most _satisfaction_ later on!"

"You're shameless," Hiroki commented, weariness drawing sweats.

The grin showed teeth. "How heart-breaking! Now why would you say that? Fufufu!"

Without waiting for an answer, the warlord disappeared the next instance, the only source of his whereabouts was determined by the ceiling blowing apart outwards and the roof pieces and snow raining down as the place caved in. Chaos heightened. Kidd smashed against another glass window, creating an entrance for himself and Zinc. Seconds later, the three pirates were outside again with people running left and right- anywhere to get away from where they were.

"The hell was that motherfucker!" the captain raged, scanning the sky for his assaulter.

"Shichibukai Donquixote Donflamingo," answered his shipwright, having eased his tensed nerves and was dusting himself off. "With a former bounty of three hundred and forty million beri. You should know him by now, Sencho, since I believe that Killer-san has taught you the names and former bounties of the seven warlords."

"Well, now I _do_!" Kidd seethed, glaring at him. "That bastard, cutting in the middle of _my_ fight, will he?"

Hiroki sighed and opened the brief case of beri. A furrow wrinkled the bridge of his nose as he stole glances at Kidd, thinking back to his weird behavior from before; now his captain had gone back to his usual childish temperamental self. Perhaps, it was just him picking up habits from all the merciless killing they'd been around? _Doesn't make it any less concerning._

"Oi, where did you get so much money?"

"I won it," he answered, a small frown forming on his face. "But the person was only suppose to give me twenty million beri. Looks like he left a hundred million." He flipped through the wads of crispy bills. "How terrible, he told me that this was his life saving..."

"Wait, I just remembered," Kidd interrupted. "The shrimp went with you! Where is he?

"I gave Chuckie-kun some spending money and told him to amuse himself in the food court," he answered. "But the food court just got destroyed with the casino itself... And he would have ran up to us, but he didn't..."

That pushed the alarm button in Kidd. "So? Where is he!"

"I don't know. He must have ran off."

"What?" the captain hissed. "Shit! You lost him? How are we suppose to explain- No wait, _you_ explain it to his brothers! This has nothing to do with me, you yakuza bastard! You hear that?"

But the shipwright already turned his back to him, looking down the road while scratching his chin. "I really hope that merchant comes back and find me soon. He gave me eighty million too much..."

"LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

* * *

Chuckie was lost in the middle of nowhere, not that he cared much for his current location, having been pissed so. He was well aware that his tantrum was yet another unreasonable and puerile one, but it was just not fair in his opinion! Hiroki was a big jerk! What was the big deal in teaching him a trick or two? As long as his brothers wouldn't find out... And so what if his brothers even finds out? It wasn't as if the shipwright would have any trouble fighting them off. He could easily take on all three of the older Chucks in a fight combined! The boy kicked a snowball and tramped through the thickening cold white. It was snowing again in drizzles, the flakes light and puffy.

"Jerk, meanie, asshole," he muttered under his breath, sulking and clutching the beri amount. "Hmph! I'll learn by myself! 'Skills' my ass! Someday, my skills are going to be better than yours, dooshbag! Ya hear that?"

Then he gave a sigh. Of course, Hiroki didn't hear it. He was miles away.

It was only then that Chuckie decided to scan his new surrounding, huddling to himself and shivering from the cold. The first thing he noticed was the lack of people, who all seemed to be hanging out near all the casinos and bars. The second thing that not only applied to this particular place, but to the entire island, was the color scheme- there were an awful a lot of red ribbons, lights and golden bells hanging around everywhere. Plus, in less crowded place such as these, conifers grew like a plague. If he would close his eyes and listen really hard, he could hear a song in air.

It reminded him of Christmas time.

_Now all we need are ornaments and candy canes,_ he thought dreamily, thinking back on all the free presents he'd received during the winter holidays and the street parties that Campbell Float would throw every year. _Ah... Good times, good times... _He wondered for a moment would the crew celebrate a holiday as well, then frowned, concluding that they probably wouldn't due to the instability of Grand Line's weather, Kidd's lack of knowledge about Christmas and- the last part really rubbed his nerves- the fact that Hiroki denied the existence of Santa Claus.

"That _jerk_!" he shouted to no one. "Everyone knows that Santa's real! How dared he make fun of me! And Santa! And he got my brothers on it too!"

A chill wind blew over the area, rendering him hugging himself again.

Sounds of bells jingling rang louder, along with the noise of something trudging through the snow. He turned around to see antlers in his face, and his eyes flew wide in shock as he fell on his behind.

"Hohoho... What is this?" someone said softly.

He looked up, and looked right into a being with a thick white beard, wearing a red coat with white fur linings, a red skin-tight legging, black belt and black boots. There was a red hat on his head. The man was gazing straight down at Chuckie, that mouth hiding behind the beard stretching into an unreadable grin. Bells hung from his clothes, jingling by the slight wind. Even though he was quite lean and not fat at all, the child immediately recognized this person.

"SANTA!" he cried with awe, racing past the reindeers.

Amid his happiness, he didn't see a strange flash crossing the eyes hidden by thick white eyebrows. The stranger scooped him off the ground and hugged him tightly as he laughed about how much Hiroki was going to regret all he'd ever said about Santa Claus.

"I knew you're real! I knew it!" he shouted with joy, nuzzling his face into the white beard.

"Hohoho~!" the old man laughed in his quiet voice, very different from the laugh Chuckie heard in his younger years. The jingling of the bells rang louder and more entrancing.

Chuckie, celebrating with himself so much, also failed to notice a hand slithering down lower and grabbing his little bottom. The hand squeezed, its movement resembling a fondling motion. The grin turned into that of a twisted relish. The bells on his clothes jingled a mesmerizing tune, driving the last of doubts from Chuckie's mind, putting him to sleep three seconds later.

"What a _cute_ little boy~!"

* * *

Within Mama's Home, screams of pain and cries of pleasure mixed terribly homogeneously with the welcoming aroma of fresh baked sweet that one would expect from a visit to his or her mother's home after years of living away. Doflamingo had smelled this familiar scent in moment he walked through the front door. His grin stretched wider, revealing the perfect row of pearly white teeth. The Shichibukai, having just came from a rather..._ interesting_ interaction, plopping himself down lazily on a grand leather seat.

He thought back on the incident, and his already wide grin only widened further.

Meanwhile, in the background, a set of footstep belonging to a high-heel wearing woman thudded through the long corridor that led to his particular room. He paid no attention to this presence until she stepped in, and stopped in front of him.

The delicious smell of fresh baked cookies filled his breathing air.

"Mamamama," the woman chuckled in a slurry, sultry voice. "Mingo-chan~ You managed to find the time to visit me in your busy schedule, baby? Mama is honored!"

"Heh, I _am_ feeling rather lonely and bullied," he chided back, getting up from the chair and gazed at her person through his magenta sunglasses. "Rozara broke my heart- I just _had_ to do away with her! You won't mind lending me comfort now, would you? Fufufu!"

The woman that he was talking to towered over him at twice his height, and looked to be about her late thirties or early forties with a brown bob cut favored by most housewives as the current hair trend. She wore a tight maroon leather apron that covered most of her front, but he knew that aside from that, a lingerie, fishnet stockings and those high heels, she wore nothing else. Her name was Mia, and she was the manager and supervisor of the biggest and the most valuable prostitution harem he owned on Grand Line, _Home, where Mama is_, specialized in young, young... hosts.

Balanced on top of her fingers were a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. She strutted over to him with all the professionalism and manner of a high class stripper, sat herself on the desk in front of him, and placed the snack down.

"Aw, is baby's sad?" she cooed quietly, her bigger head nearly touching his. "Did Rozara do this so you? That bad, bad girl, I warned her to listen... She didn't, did she?" She shook her head sadly and tsked her tongue. "My poor, poor baby~ She'll never best me, I told her. I should've taught her better. You have my apology, Mingo-chan~!"

"Enough about her and Rosier! Talking about them makes me lose my appetite!" Doflamingo snapped, moving a finger to control her movement with his power, making her lean away to give him some breathing air. He picked up a cookie and bit into it viciously. "Why not discuss their reason of downfall?"

"Ah? The Kidd pirates?" Her eyes lit up. "I remember seeing posters of those babies. Adorable boys, they are~! I just want to eat them up." She licked her lips, a flash of lust streaking across her eyes. "A tad too old to push into the market, but never too old for Mama~"

"Fufufufufu! You say that about everyone!"

"Mama loves her boys unconditionally~" she slurred with a smirk.

He let out of fit of roaring laughter at this, cookie crumbs spraying all over. Mia watched him, a dazed look on her face as she scanned him up and down. Really, if he wasn't more powerful than her and kept resisting her... The main entrance of the manor opened, snapping her from her trance. Doflamingo ceased his laughter little by little as she peeked and head out to see who'd came in.

"Klaus!" she called, seeing her assistant. "C'mere! Mingo-chan's visiting us~!"

There was a moment of silence as the assistant stopped in his track, going as still as a statue. She waited, a hand on her hip and leaning against the doorway.

"Hohoho..." Klaus finally chuckled, turning to meet her eyes, and rushed away without a word. The bells on his clothes rung their sedative melodies. In his arms was a wrapped bundle.

"Ah! You lured another one, I see! Have fun~!" And with a chuckle, she turned back to Doflamingo.

The Shichibukai had stopped laughing, but the grin still hadn't gone away. She watched him as he turned his head up and looked at her right in the eyes. A smirk stretched her lips.

"You don't have to tell me a thing, my baby~ They're on this island aren't they?" she said.

"Your female intuition never fails to read me, woman," he said back.

She cupped her blushing cheeks hearing that compliment. "Mamama~ Don't worry, Mingo-chan. Mama will take care of everything~!"


	69. Demons of the Fruits

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, trypheria, Hyouton Inuki, Too-lazy-to-Log-in, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl _and _silversatyr_ for reviewing!

Now before you go all "Yo Lunar! WTF is with you, dawg? You haven't updated in nearly two fuckin' months when you said an update every three days!" lemme explain me-self! I! ...got lazy and distracted again. And yes, school is here too, so there's no way I can keep a steady update speed even if I'm not a self-proclaimed lazy smartass.

Rest assure, human beings and whatnots, I'll always be back until I finish this damn thing. You can count on that. Now c'mon, give me a break. You all miss me right? ...Riiiight?

I'm sorry. I really am. OTL

Anyway, on a more serious note. I finally got a beta. I'm just too lazy to go back and fix all my typos and screwed-up syntaxes, and someone volunteered, so why the hell not? Say hello to Moore Thane Woods, who has already edited up to chapter five and will continue for as long as her busy schedule allows her to. Thank you so much, Moore! :D

This chapter moves extremely slow. Hiatus usually gets me rusty, if you haven't noticed yet. This wrote more like a filler to me than anything else, even though the entire arc is supposed to be a filler. It's more filler-y than an actual filler. Now I'm wishing that I had just skipped this arc and moved on with the up-coming main arc after last time. But, this does provide a lot of space for developments, and not to mention Mingo-chan...

* * *

It was about three minutes of running later that Mustang decided that he had enough of this silly goose chase. His heels screeched to a stop and he turned around, an irritated look on his face as he faced the oncoming mob.

"Mustang-niisan, are you feeling tired?" Perry asked as she held on to his neck, looking up at him with her ever so calm expression. A tinge of worry could be seen in her eyes, not that anyone was seeing it. Ignoring her, the man crouched to fighting stance and released his false arm out from his holding of her. "...I don't think this is a good idea," the girl advised, catching on what he was about to do. "They might-"

"PEDOPHILE!"

"AAAAAARGH!" he cried back as their weapons crashed upon his steel-made prothesis. With a might push, he swung his arm and knocked the weapons away. The people tumbled backwards at the force of his defense, crashing into one another during the wave as he knocked the knives and the brooms out of their grips. "TAKE THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT!"

He pushed more, punched some, and de-armed them one by one, his human arm protecting the girl all throughout the resistance. It ended precisely two minutes later with the civilians on their backs and behinds, and Mustang standing his ground victoriously, huffing angrily as they regathered themselves, limping with shallow scratches and minor bruises. They glanced in surprise at the outraged, heavily breathing pirates, picked up their weapons again and glared back with equal menace.

"Seriously, what the fuck is your goddamn problem!"

"Do not falter!" a man from the crowd shouted. "Get him! We can do this! For our children!"

Mustang's eyes popped out as they came at him again. "YOU PEOPLE HAVE ISSUES!"

It took two more waves of attempted assaults before they finally gave up, groaning on the ground as the pissed pirate stood above them. Perry clung on until then, deciding that maybe it was safe enough to get down again. She hesitatingly did so, grabbing the edge gunner's leather jacket soon after.

"Um, we don't mean any harm, really," she started in a small voice, edging a little closer to the civilians. "Mustang-niisan is my big brother."

One of the first recovered women stared at her. "...Child, if he's forcing you to lie, or blackmailing you into-"

"Aren't you folks quick to accuse?" Mustang snapped. "Goddamn it, just what part of me look like a pedophile?"

"He's not. He really is my big brother," Perry answered.

"Why is he so much older than you, then?" one of the men demanded, holding onto his mop for support and never taking his eyes off the pirate.

"'Cause our mum wanted it to be! You have a problem with that?" Mustang barked, steam streaming out of his ears, enraged by the false accusation despite his own lie. It wasn't that far-stretched anyway- Chuckie was close enough to Perry's age. "I reckon you do! Usually, normal townspeople don't ambush an innocent visitor for no fucking reason!"

They all looked at each other, not sure whether or not to disbelieve and attack again, or believe and apologize.

"If you're not one of _them_..." one of the older men muttered. "We apologize, in that case."

"Damn right I'm not one of- Wait..." Mustang frowned, his anger dissipating for a second in favor of puzzlement. "One of who?"

The townspeople looked at each other shamefully. The silence lasted for another minute before the same man proceeded explaining to him.

A while later, Mustang and Perry found themselves sitting on the snowy ground, each holding a cup of steamy hot cocoa. Most of the mob had left by then, but not before admitting their wrong to the visitors before heading back to their own home, resuming life. Said visitors listened as the remainder of the people told their reasons.

"So let me get this straight," the pirate said when it was all said and done. He set his empty mug down. "You're telling me that this 'Mama's Home'- that giant cake-shaped manor over by the mountains- is a whorehouse? And they specializes in little children?"

One of the women nodded. "They came here ten years ago. Her- 'Mama' Mia and... We don't know if her assistant is her husband or her brother or related to her at all- but that doesn't matter! What matters is that as soon as they got on this island, the homeless kids on the streets suddenly started disappearing. At first we thought that it was a good thing, that someone had taken them off the streets and given them a home. But then, that entertainment center sprung up, and thieves, pirates, and perverts came from all over Grand Line! And sometimes, during the night time, we'd see 'Jingle' Klaus- that _assistant_ of hers- out here in the streets talking to our children. Him and his mistress are awful! On certain days near the ports, we saw shipment of crates delivering little boys and girls from slave trades to their manor..." She sounded sick.

"They haven't laid a hand on any of our children yet," another said firmly. "That's because us parents decided to band together in this neighborhood to ensure that none of their henchmen can get to us! We pride on keeping our young ones safe!"

"Hold it, hold it," Mustang cut in. "From what you're telling me, this isn't just a casual dispute that people handle themselves! Prostitution, child rape, and slavery are capital crimes! What they're doing is illegal! Why haven't you folks called the marines yet? The World Government would've-"

"The World Government would have done nothing," one of the fathers spat darkly. "We tried. We explained to them our situation and pleaded them for help numerous times! But they just denied it by saying that they don't have that business' name on record, and therefore it must not be in existence and we must be lying. No marine ship came here in eight years already."

The pirate's expression wrinkled. "_What?_ How is that-_"_

"The truth is, Mama's Home is owned by the warlord Donquixote Doflamingo. And... And the Celestial Dragons, those people come here often too. That's why nobody would do anything."

Mustang was stunned.

"Are you telling me that the _World Government...?_" They looked at him firmly as he trailed off. "But... They're supposed to be good! They would never let something like this happen under their noses, even if-" He stopped himself short when their resentful expressions did not change, and his shocked face retreated back to a frown as several reminders hit him at once.

The World Government had done plenty of things similar to what these people told him. He thought back to the Kingdom of Bleu, where even with a very strong presence of the marines, the House of Seas and Stars stood. He had assumed later that it was the fault of that prince that a harem like that was allowed to exist, and made himself believe that there wasn't anything the navy can do to counter a royalty's orders.

The second reminder hit him when he looked down at the quiet girl by his side, sipping her cocoa slowly, and Arria's story came flashing back.

And now, the World Government let a warlord to bend the rules and run whorehouses using little children?

_What the hell? This isn't right! Since when is the marines the bad guys?_

"There isn't really anything more that we can tell you," the same woman who spoke before said, taking the empty mug from Perry and helping the girl to her feet. "But you guard your sister closely. Don't let her out of your sight even for one minute. 'Jingle' Klaus can hear a lone child from miles away!"

"Hold on, I have one more question," Mustang said, standing up as well.

"Yes?"

"Just what made you think that I'm from Mama's Home before?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Is it because I wear a lot of leather or something?"

She blinked and shook her head. "No, they don't have have any particular uniform, unless you count the fact that they always like to wear green and red. It's your rockabilly. That's how we learned to recognize them. Every single one of them has the rockabilly. It's their trademark style."

Another parent nodded in agreement. "You should probably cut your hair."

* * *

The screams of panic that resulted from the pirate-warlord interaction did not go unnoticed by the rest of the people on the island. It wasn't long before Camry, Chevy and Arria caught wind of it from unintentionally eavesdropping on conversations as they strolled through the shopping district. The three exchanged glances for a single second when they heard the name of a Shichibukai and their captain being uttered in the same sentence, and immediately abandoned their errands to rush to the aftermath of the so-called fight.

They arrived right in the middle of another one-sided argument that Kidd was trying to have with Hiroki, who, without a care in the world, was sitting on a stack of rubbish wood with a black briefcase opened on his lap, counting money with his fingers rustling through the crispy bills at an insane pace. With Zinc standing guard and giving anyone who dared to come close his most terrifying stoic stares, people were avoiding their general area out of fear.

"-GODDAMN LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TRYING TO INSULT AT YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHITWRECK!" the redhead bellowed as Camry, Chevy and Arria slowed down. More creative profanities poured from his mouth. The presences of his three other nakamas went over his head as he desperately concentrated on finding the right nerve to rub to provoke a satisfactory reaction from his impassive shipwright.

The three newly arrived stopped once again and exchanged another look.

"The hell?" the cook muttered with a small scowl. "They aren't injured at all."

"Looks to me like they just blew apart a casino. There's no way that they could have faced a warlord and gotten away with no wounds," Arria insisted, resuming back to her normal voice.

It was then that Hiroki decided to look up from the wad of cash in his hand. He gave them his usual smile. "Hello," he said pleasantly as he greeted them, looking past his captain. "Are we all done with the groceries?"

"YOU ARE A RUDE PERSON!" Kidd barked ironically.

"Hm?" The man in kimono blinked and turned to him. "Oh, were you yelling at me? I apologize for tuning you out. I was not listening."

A vein popped on the captain's head. "WHAT THE HELL? ARE YOU DEAF? ...OI, DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU BASTARD! I AM YOUR CAPTAIN! STOP PISSING ME OFF! I DEMAND RESPECT! THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS TO THE MOON!"

That declaration along with the rattling of the metals everywhere directly resulted in Chevy rushing forward and attempting to calm Kidd's fury using all the reasons he knew of why killing off the shipwright might not be a good idea, throwing a mention or two of Killer in there. Said shipwright closed the reorganized briefcase of beri and stood up.

"In case you're wondering. Donquixote Doflamingo was here," he said. "We had a little unexpected conflict with him, but he didn't seem too serious, since he let us off the hook for some reason. We got toyed with instead, if you want to put it that way."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kidd said with a huff and crossed his arms, offended. "I wasn't toyed with!"

"Yes we were."

"Who's side are you on?" the captain snarled. "I was caught off guard, that's all! I could have easily kicked that bastard's ass if I tried!"

Hiroki stared at him.

He glared back and snapped, "What? Don't give me that deadpanned look of yours! I'mma kick your ass!"

"Insert sarcastic comment."

Which led to a whole another round of fire.

Ten minutes later...

"So captain was already in a fight before this," Camry went over the explanation, trying to set things straight. "And he somehow chased that guy all the way to this casino, and was about to 'finish' him off, but then, the warlord intervened, blew up all the lights, and destroyed half of the casino- a casino which belongs to him." He sighed and leaned against a post. "You reckless bastards, you should consider yourself lucky that this is all he had done! I've heard all kinds of stories about the seven warlords. You could have been killed!"

Hiroki shrugged. "It was an unpredicted predicament, inevitable once it happened too."

"The bigger question is what business he has on this island," Arria, who stayed silent throughout the entire time, spoke. "Seeing how he so casually destroyed one of his businesses, I'd say that this isn't particularly important to him."

"He might just be wandering around here 'cause he likes this place. Hell knows why," Kidd suggested with a snort. "It's none of our business when we set sail, unless he wants to die messing with us before I set."

"I have a Log Pose. We can set sail right now," Hiroki said, digging the compass out from his left sleeve.

Everyone jumped.

"Oi, you didn't steal that, did you?" Camry barked.

"No, I won it."

"Now that stealing's mentioned, you didn't steal the money either, did you?" Chevy questioned in panic.

"No, I won that too."

"How much money did you make so far?" asked Arria.

"One hundred and twenty million beri," he answered, then proceeded with, "It was only suppose to be forty million, but my last opponent ran off when the fight started and generously entrusted all his money to me. As he hasn't come back to reclaim the rest, I decided to be a dutiful fellow man and keep it in his place. I wish him a good life, though that may or may not happen." She responded to his reasoning by a nod of approval that only them two understood.

"...Any man with common sense would want back that much money," Chevy muttered. "How different is that from stealing?"

"It is," Hiroki insisted. "I am doing it out of a man's honor by preventing this amount of wealth from falling into the wrong hand."

"This comes from a yakuza-lord-in-training-turned-pirate," Camry said drily.

"I am a very honorable man," came the doubtless statement that somehow made everything more doubtful.

Kidd, on the other hand, was much more interested in the Log Pose to be bothered. He snatched the prize before Hiroki could even blink, snickering quite contently under his breath.

Now, no more compass duty! Hell, was he getting sick that and constantly being pestered with the question, "Are you setting?" From this moment on, he could just shove this little thingy in their faces and shout, "Look at this! You see this? Does this motherfucker look set to you? Does it? If you want to know so badly, how about _you_ take it and tell _me_ when we set next time!" Now, Killer will have one less excuse to get mad at him.

That made him very happy.

"Zinc!" he called.

"Yes, my Fuhrer!"

"Carry this for me!" he commanded, handing the Log Pose over to the Spartian. "Guard it with your life! Let this breaks and you die!"

"I shall not let it break!" Bat-chan said with a nod. "And if I fail, I shall face my consequences, for you are my Fuhrer and the Fuhrer is always-"

"BOSS!"

The scream turned all their heads before Kidd have the chance to process any death threats to the cadet for even daring to begin that statement. The sight of Mustang running towards them with Perry on his back cut off all conversations between the other four Kidd pirates. He halted in front of them ten seconds later, and the girl slid down, heading for her mother.

"Where's the fire, Aniki?" Camry asked, noticing Perry disappearing into Arria's cloak.

"Fire? We're in deep shit! We need to get off this island right now!" Mustang exclaimed. "Are there any places where we can buy an Eternal Pose? The sooner we get away, the better-"

"Oi, oi, calm your ass down!" Kidd barked. "What the hell are you talking about? We just got here!"

"Is there something we missed about this island?" Hiroki pondered, sensing no danger.

"A warlord!" the gunner shouted. "That place up in the mountain!" He pointed towards Mama's Home. "It belongs to the Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo! We're in the territory of a warlord! That's never a good thing, you know!"

A silence passed.

Then Kidd snorted, cutting it off. "So what?" he said snidely, crossing his arms haughtily. "It's not like we can't beat the bastard up if he tries that again."

Mustang looked as if he might lose it any moment. "Don't be ridiculous- Wait, 'again'?"

"Yeah, I was in a fight with him just now," Kidd boasted, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "You think that empty casino behind us is just for show?"

"We lost," Hiroki added on, much to the captain's agitation.

Mustang wrinkled his forehead and looked behind Kidd for a moment before he shook his head.

"Well, I don't know what kind of trouble you people got into again, and I don't really want to know," he said. "That's not my main point though. I was nearly chased out of the suburban neighborhood because they thought that I was one of the people from Mama's Home for some reason. Those people living there told me what Mama's Home is- it's a prostitution house catering to pedophiles! They kidnap homeless kids off the streets and buys children from slave trades! There's this guy they call 'Jingle' Klaus who goes around the place snatching kids off the street as soon as they're alone!"

"You're kidding us!" Camry immediately snarled. "There's no way-"

"It's owned by a warlord, and from what you guys said, he's on this island right now!" his older brother argued back. "And that isn't even my main concern. Perry's safe, but where the hell is Chuckie? Wasn't he with you guys?"

"The shrimp was with that guy," Kidd said, nodding towards Hiroki.

"That's right! Chuckie left the ship with you! Where is he now? ...You didn't let him wander off, did you?"

They waited for a reply.

"Ah, about that..." the shipwright began, scratching his chin. "He was getting annoying, so I gave him some money and told him to get something to eat at the food court." His black eyes blinked once before they averted upwards thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, he was heading in the wrong direction. He left the casino through the front door, as a matter of fact."

The word 'shit' rang loud and clear, even though none of them said a word.

"...And how long ago was this?" Arria demanded, glaring at him.

"About half an hour."

...

Hiroki stared at his nakamas' pale and angry expressions. "I see that I did something wrong, didn't I?"

* * *

Never in Killer's twenty-one - close to twenty-two - years of living did he ever forsee that one day he would be sexually harassed by an overgrown slime of a worm, who was currently trying to shower him with unwanted affection in the form of her excess saliva. It broke his concentration from his reading, ate away his already-short patience, and boiled his blood to hear that cooing sound constantly ringing in his ear. The slimy green liquid dripping down the side of his jeans was not helping with his nerves.

For one thing, he never, ever liked worms, no matter what size they were. Unlike other young boys during his pre-teenage years, he hated bugs, hated spiders and generally hated anything associated with insects and tube-shaped invertebrates. It wasn't a fear, but he could not think of the correct term for such irrational hatred.

Killer slammed the book that he was reading shut, stood up, and unleashed his fury.

_Bam!_ Ren flew out of the kitchen and up into the air, squealing like a pig.

"WHAT PART OF 'NO' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" he barked as her body bounced twice on the deck before landing in a heap of white snow that had not been shoveled. Almost as if she felt nothing, the Giant Man-Eating Worm rolled right out of frigidness into the cold and gave a love-sick yelp that sounded almost amused. She rushed up to him and proceeded purring and rubbing herself against his legs again; obviously she hadn't learned her lesson yet.

Seconds later, her body crashed against the rail.

"Touch me again, and you die!" the enraged masked man threatened.

Ren was doubling over in a weird 'kukuku' laughter, having too much fun. Her tail slammed again and again on the wooden floorboard like a drunken pirate would with his fist.

The air, which was already dangerously cold due to the natural season of the island, further dropped in temperature. It shouldn't be long before people started noticing the pirate ship, but Killer did not care. A worm was mocking him! A _worm_! All of a sudden, what little left of his senses flew out the window.

"You pesky little _thing_!" he hissed, trying to find something stinging to say before realizing that he'd used it all- insults, remarks about the Chuck Brothers- half of which he didn't mean-, and death threats. He was at his wits end by this point.

Maybe if he actually take out a weapon, that would make her-

"Vice, what are you doing?"

At the sound of Arria's voice, Killer stopped in the middle of his mental raging. He forced himself to relax and cleared his mind, a little embarrassed to be caught off guard like that. The embarrassment soon faded in favor of curiosity as Perry dropped out from the woman's black cloak onto the deck floor. The swordswoman stood straight and readjusted a few loosen bands of the white bandages on her face. Strangely, no one else was with them.

"Why are you alone?" he asked without answering her initial question. "Did something happen?"

_Of course something had happened,_ he corrected himself with a frown as Arria bent to eye level with her daughter first, ignoring him for the time being.

"Stay here with Killer-san, all right? We'll be right back," she said gently, running a hand through the girl's white hair. "And keep warm. Stay in the kitchen."

Perry gave a timid nod. "Will you bring Chuckie-niisan back too?" she asked.

"Of course we will," came the assurance. "Now go play."

"Okay."

Killer waited patiently for her answer.

"We got into a bit of shit," was all Arria gave him as she re-cloaked herself. "And before you ask, it's best if you stay here and guard the ship instead; the rest of us have this under control." She paused for a moment, and right after the masked man fully relaxed, she added on, "There's a shichibukai on this island. The captain had a run-in with him."

That undid everything. "_What?"_

She hopped off the ship before he could demand any clarification.

"And before you even think about leaving the ship," the woman croaked in her granny voice as she turned around, halting Killer right beside the rails in his attempt to follow her. The wrapped sword in her grip slammed on the ground once. "Just know that I'll have your head if anything happens to Perry."

Killer blinked as she raced away as fast as her disguise would allow her.

A frown overtook his face beneath the mask. He watched her go for another minute before forcing himself off the rail and headed back for the kitchen.

"'Have my head'?" he muttered with a snort along the way. "What a feckless threat. The stupid things women would say..."

Back in the kitchen, Ren, having Perry there, finally ceased to bother him as the pair dragged the life-size doll to the furthest corner from the door and got out cosmetic supplies. The girl happily brushed her replica's white hair, listening to the worm's nonstop animal noise, nodding her head and responding once in a while. It was hard to tell if she was just trying to be nice, or if she really understood what Ren was saying.

Then again, most of them understood what their ship pet was communicating most of the time now despite her gibberish. Killer found that a tad strange thinking about it.

"...I wish you have hair too, Ren-chan," the girl said in her calm, small voice. "I would love to do someone else's hair other than Arria-san's. She would only wear her hair in a braid, and if I re-do I any other style, she would make me undo it right after even though I wish that she would keep it for just a while." A sad look graced her face. "She has really pretty hair too. Do you think Arria-san has pretty hair?"

"Waooo waoof!" responded the worm.

"Ah, of course! I'm sorry," Perry apologized, pausing in the middle of her work. "But if you want, I can ask Hiroki-niisan to make a wig for you. I'm sure that he won't mind if I ask nicely. That way, you don't have to feel left out being the only one without hair."

Ren nuzzled her cheek, making her giggle.

Killer mentally slapped himself when he realized that he was listening to their mindless chatters. With a sigh, he closed the kitchen door to block the icy breeze, sat back down by the dining table and picked up his book. His mind, on the other hand, wandered off to other things.

_Kidd, you idiot_.

A warlord? Which one?

_Forget that__! _he seethed, wishing to slam his head against something to soothe his nerves. _Has that moron been listening to a thing that I taught him since the formation of this crew? He should have known better than to mess with someone like a warlord! Is he asking for death?_

He then reminded himself that this was the same idiot who dared to go up against an admiral just weeks ago.

_Sooner or later... One of these days..._

What he worried about was that one of those days just might be today.

_But, if she said that they have it under control, then I might as well let it go,_ he convinced himself, subconsciously flipping a page that he hadn't read._ And beat him up later if he lives._ The pages of the book wrinkled by his gripping fingers. It took moments more for him to realize this and calm down. He flipped back to the page that he'd skipped, muttering under his breath that perhaps he was losing it. Slowly, he let himself became absorbed into the book again, letting go the unwanted worries.

It took him ten minutes to notice that Perry was no longer playing with Ren.

He set his read down.

_I'm really out of it._

"Yes?"

Perry blinked and jumped startlingly by his voice; she must have been standing there for quite a while. Killer grimaced silently; he should have sensed her, but he didn't.

"What are you reading?" she asked. Her hands were tucked behind her back. Back in the corner, Ren battled with the hairbrush.

"This book?" He turned to the front cover. "It's titled 'Demons of the Fruits.'"

"What is it about? Is it good?"

"It's informative, if that's what you're asking," he answered, glancing at her suspiciously. "Is there a reason why you're here?"

She gave his a shrug of her shoulders. "I want to hear a story, and I thought that you might be reading a good one. Is it a scary story about demons?"

_Oh._

"I'm not reading a story, Perry. There are books in the world that don't tell story, but inform you and teach you about certain things," he said. Her attentive gaze locked on his mask, waiting for him to continue. "'Demons of the Fruits' is written by Doctor Vegapunk and one of his leading teams. Do you know who they are?"

A shake of head.

"They're scientists of the World Government's research sector, and this is a scientific book explaining a scientific theory that they came up with. Are you bored yet?"

"A theory?" she echoed.

Killer replied by a nod. "They've developed a theory about Devil Fruits."

"Alejandro ate a Devil Fruit. Arria-san told me. Kidd-niisama also ate a Devil Fruit," she said, trying to contribute as much as she knew about the subject. "Alejandro can't fight under water, and Kidd-niisama can't swim."

"Exactly," Killer said. "But losing the ability to swim is something that people long knew. Devil Fruits are something that had been around since the dawn of humanity. This is something completely new that hasn't been uncovered 'till recently. It's a breakthrough. Vegapunk theorized that a Devil Fruit may actually have psychological impact on a user's mentality, personality and habits."

From the blank look on Perry's face, he concluded that she didn't understand him.

"Say, if someone ate a Zoan fruit- the ape fruit, for example," he explained. "The person, who may never liked bananas before, would suddenly find bananas incredibly scrumptious to taste. Their voice might adapt to some certain noises that only apes can make. They might find it fun to hang from and swing around in trees when they never liked trees before. They might even grow to have ape-like features over time.

"Or, say if someone ate the smoke fruit, a Logia fruit. That person may get addicted to smoking, and may develop a calmer, more strategic way of thinking. They may become accustom to being unconfined and less likely to listen to others' orders because smoke itself is a free-flowing mixture of gas particles in nature. Or, picking a Paramecia fruit, the Hana Hana no mi. The user may gain a gentler nature. He or she may even start to smell like a flower.

"There is a 'demon' inside every fruit that would overtake the host's body during consumption, and the take-over happens slowly over time. It's very subconscious and passive; no one can tell it happening. That's Doctor Vegapunk's Fruit Demon theory," he concluded.

_Which- and I will bet anything- that the start of the research came from their nine years possession of Arria's sword. This theory can be the only logical explanation as to how a lifeless item supposably developed its own personality. However, if one think about it, it isn't really a sword eating a Devil Fruit after all; it would be more along the lines of forcing the 'demon' of a fruit to 'possess' that object._

He looked down at the book itself. The bookmark stuck not even half way between the numerous pages, indicating where he'd left off prior the interruption.

_And to write a book this detailed, Vegapunk came a long way since then._

_Where exactly is the World Government going with this sort of research?_

"Killer-san?" Perry interrupted his train of thoughts, snapping him back to reality.

The masked man turned again to stare at her, and found himself staring harder the longer time dragged on. The girl ceased her speech and shifted her feet, getting a little nervous and confused.

Finally, he spoke. "Would you like to learn a new language, Perry?"

She frowned. "Language?"

"A new 'language.' It is said that during a certain time in history, different parts of the world spoke with different tongues," Killer said. "Until the World Government came along and unified the written and the oral languages under one. Now, a lot of the old tongues are long lost. I'm very fortunate to have recovered some books of one. But, I'm old, and you're young; it'll be easier for you to learn it than for me. You're at the perfect age to adapt a new language and comprehend it properly. And, it will benefit both of us greatly."

The child grew quiet as she looked down at her fidgeting toes.

"Do you not like learning?"

"No. I like learning," came the timid answer.

"Is there a problem that I should know about?" he asked, leaning in a little closer.

"...Writing is hard."

Killer blinked.

"But you like to draw, don't you?" he asked. "What if I tell you that this writing is like drawing. Each word is a unique picture that means something. All you have to do is know what each drawing represents."

"...Is it that easy?"

His lips quirked. "It is as easy as you make it."

Her slumped shoulders gave a small shrug, her mouth moved but no sound came out, and she seemed to be shrinking into herself the longer time passed.

_A lack of confidence,_ Killer observed as he pressed his lips together. _With no sense of self-accomplishment or self-esteem. She doesn't get choices often, does she?_

_Arria probably never expects her daughter to leave her side, but... this... _He rubbed his left shoulder to ease the build-up of disapproval inside him. _That woman's gonna loosen her clutch on her kid whether she likes it or not._

"You'll come to me this evening after dinner," he said firmly, not waiting for an answer. "We'll start then. Go play for now. I will talk with _her._"

Perry gave a nod.

With a sigh, Killer picked up his book and resumed reading about Doctor Vegapunk's Fruit Demon theory. Half of his mind was occupied with jumbled thoughts on the theory's contents, the other half conjuring all sorts of arguments that he would be getting into with the swordswoman later. Contentment blended evenly through his moods; it soothed him somehow to have a potential pupil who would be learning the Poneglyph writing; if he ever dies, then at least he could trust someone who would make sense of the whole senseless mess. Kidd and the warlord completely slipped his attention.

Ten more minutes in, he noticed that Perry was still standing beside him.

He set down his book again. "...Yes?"

"You have really pretty hair," the girl said.

"Uh... thank you?" he responded wearily.

Now that he thought about it, she couldn't really be interested in just hearing a story, could she? This wasn't the first time that she'd complimented his hair either. He frowned; he wasn't liking this at all.

The hands she had tucked behind her back all this time suddenly moved. She was beginning to smile, and he was beginning to realize why she approached him in the first place.

For someone like Killer, her smile was a scary thing to see.

"May I braid your hair?"


	70. Of Bad Ideas and Terrible Plans

**Author's Note:** Thanks to _Savage Valentine, The Chibi Fluff, Hailey4356, Amy Hirosaki, Arotho, Fishy-Neko-Fangirl, meka18_ (from chapters fifty and sixty-nine) and _Another Bystander_ (from chapter sixty-five) for reviewing.

All right, I finally kicked myself in the ass hard enough to finish this. I'm sorry that I'm such an asshole. Really. ._. Do you know how hard it is to get back to reading actual books after years of fanfiction? I just realized that other than required readings for school, I haven't touched a genuine contemporary novel in nearly two years. Fack! OTL

And, uh, Doflamingo is extremely out of character. I don't care. I like him better this way for reasons you may or may not comprehend.

Happy winter cheers, everyone.

* * *

Arria returned to the casino that had been the designated meeting spot after she delivered her daughter back to the ship to find herself alone. A scowl instantly set on her face as a chill breezed through the ruins in silence, and she knew that the rest of the crew were scattered all over town by then. Around her, the people re-crowding the previously empty street now gave her odd looks as they passed by the ghastly-looking, hunchbacked granny, who had been standing in the same spot for five minutes straight and appeared to be muttering to herself under her breath.

"Those stupid pigs! Did none of them even think of setting a _time_ to meet after searching?" she snarled, unreasonably disregarding the fact that she had been part of the group and should logically be responsible as well. "Now what do I do? Sit around and wait for them like an idiot?"

About seven or eight blocks away, Kidd was walking around with a dark scowl on his face. He had traveled three streets and had done zero amount of searching during the last fifteen minutes, grumbling under his breath about how this wasn't his problem, and how the shrimp was more than capable of taking care of his own little ass. Zinc, following his blameless leader ever so loyally, kept the civilians good distances away from them, although Kidd's unfriendly murderous expression would have done the job anyway.

About seven or eight more blocks away from the captain and the cadet, and with the distance between them constantly changing, was Mustang, who raced around town like his pants were on fire, bawling on the top of his lungs rather comically as he jumped and darted between every corner. It was very entertaining to all the passersby who saw him.

Closer to Arria but in the polar opposite direction to Kidd, Hiroki strolled in and out of different shops with not a hint of worry on his face, occasionally stopping and making a few purchases. Stepping out of the fifth shop he'd entered, he stuffed into his ears a pair of earmuffs- the faint music in the air was getting on his nerves.

Around the suburbs, Camry and Chevy asked around, both receiving the same exact answer from every person they questioned; if a kid was alone, 'Jingle' Klaus must have gotten him already.

Going back to Arria, the woman finally decided after a while of standing that this situation was ridiculous and she wasn't going to wait around any longer doing nothing. She turned away from the ruins of the casino.

"What are _you_ looking at?" she rasped at a bunch of people who was staring at her, frightened them with a threatening wave of her "cane", and then wobbled down the road straight for Mama's Home.

Behind her, the few civilians exchanged uncertain looks.

"What's going on today? A casino got leveled, and I just saw a pervert running around going crazy..." A young woman muttered with concern.

"Maybe the old lady forgot her medicine today, dear, don't sound so upset," her husband reassured.

"Well, I'm just hoping that none of those pirates around here are making any trouble. Heaven knows we had enough of that already..."

* * *

Up close, Mama's Home didn't look as preposterous as it did further away. Two men with the Rockabilly stood guard on either side of the giant doorway, both looking sharp in black suits with dark sunglasses. Their eerie resemblance to Mustang startled her for a second. She paused, decided that perverted minds always think alike, and moved on. The perverts on guarding duty bowed at her like a couple of robots, surprisingly letting her through the entrance without any restrains or questions.

_Aren't they cocky?_ she sneered as she strolled past them.

The wooden tiles and the dim lighting cast shadows in every corner, giving the visitor a rather obscure impression of the interior. Seven different doorways opened on the sides of the encircling, hexagon walls, which were painted dark red.

What was even more unusual were the furniture and appliances of this room. There was a triple sink between two of the doors, an oven between another two, several shelves and cabinets between some others, a couple of sofas scattered here and there, a giant round table with a cake on top along with empty plates, utensils and glasses of milk, and smack-dab in the middle of it all was a giant ever-green tree decorated with ornaments, blinking lights, and candy-canes. Calming winter holiday music overtook the silence.

It was a very warm room, very homely, and it smelled of freshly baked chocolate fudge. The aroma was mouth-watering.

Arria stood dumbly near the entrance, allowing a drool to escape the corner of her lips before she could help it. ..._Did I come into the wrong place?_

"Mamamama..."

_Hm?_ Her ears perked up, her posture stilled for a second, and she turned to her right.

"A customer? I love customers~!" the saucy, slurry voice of a female rang out along the sharp click-clacks of imperial high heels. "Welcome, welcome to my home, darling stranger~ Mama is glad to have you! Seat yourself down, let me take your coat~!" Arria frowned as she stared at the nearly-naked, apron-wearing giantess that appeared in front of her. Mia smiled down. "Have a brownie, sweet grandpa?"

A plate of delicious chocolate sweet was thrust into her face. Arria stared back at it as if it was poisoned.

"I'm a woman!" she snapped instead in her raspy voice. "And get that shit out of my face! I'm looking for my grandson. His name is Chuckie and someone told me that that blasted assistant of you picked him off the streets. Where the hell is he?"

Mia licked her lips. "Mmm? Is it Klaus making trouble for the town people again? What a shame~ I keep telling him that our supplies of children will be more than enough for him but..." She gave a pout and moved on to making her guest at home, dodging Arria's questions. "Grandma, do sit down and have a taste of my baking first. Would you like a glass of eggnog? A lovely lady like you must be craving young companies~"

The old woman whacked her hands away. "Fuck off! I'll look for him myself!" she growled, began wobbling towards of the doors.

"My, my, your mouth is quite filthy for an old one~" The 'Mama' stood straighter. The corners of her lips curved, but her eyes were unsmiling. "So you're not a customer then?"

The deadpanned cold voice froze the 'granny' in mid-step. She slowly turned to glare at the towering woman, earning back the most unfazed, eerie look that she'd gotten from anyone. Suspicious eyes glanced back towards where she was about to head, her judgements hesitating.

"I only like babies and customers~" Mia licked her lips. "Other people aren't cute at all. They don't bring me money or pleasure~"

"I got no time to talk to you, pervert," Arria spat back. "Stall anymore and I'll cut your head off."

The other woman slowly stuck a piece of the brownie between her lips. "Aren't we violent today? No money, no service, that's the rule of my house, grandma."

"Don't waste my ti-"

A whip flickered like lightning, knocking her off her feet in milliseconds. Arria crashed against a door, throwing it open, tumbling into the dark. The soft bag that made her hunchback lessened the impact. She rolled trice on the floor before she managed to steady herself, kneeling.

"Mamamamama~!" The laughter echoed around the room.

The giant woman suddenly sped towards her at an alarming rate.

_She's too fas-_

_WHAM!_

A high heel struck her dead in the stomach, the sharp front of the shoe jabbed into her rib cage, sending her flying once again. The hood of her cloak fell off, unveiling her wrapped face. Mia strutted towards her, chuckling her signature laughter.

"I thought that there is something off about your hunchback~ It's too soft to be flesh!" she said in a sing-song voice. "So it's a young woman~! My, my, wrong house. My home don't crater to regular men- we specialize in children!" She stopped, placed her hands on her hips, and gave a long, moan-like 'hm'. "You're a little too old for my taste too~ Maybe if I see how pretty you look beneath those bandages, I might change my mind and keep you as me personal pet! Mamama~! I do like older girls if I'm in the mood; they can be the cutest things if they're_ prepared_ right~ Mmmhm~! I might even _train_ you~!"

Arria felt her stomach give a lurch at the suggestion, but managed to keep her breakfast down as she gave a snort and stood on her feet, cursing herself in the back of her head for not having something planned. She was expecting old geezer pedophiles, not a psychotic woman twice her size.

"Old lady, I'm not here to play games with you," she said, seriously getting into fighting stances as she freed her weapon. "Don't think that just because you kicked me twice that you can fuck around with me. You better do what I-"

"Ah, Baby Mingooooo~!" Mia squealed and jumped in the middle of Arria's sentence like a fangirl on high, cupping her blushing cheeks. "Darling, what's wrong? Mama told you that I'll be right back~"

"Oi, I'm trying to talk to you!" the swordswoman barked, yanking her sword out, outraged that an opponent would so blandly disregard her existence in the middle of a supposed fight. Alejandro's deadly blade reflected off a dangerous glint compatible to its wielder's rage. She swung him, sharp feathers emerged out, and-

Just a hair away from her target, she suddenly found herself immobilized.

_Who-_

"Fufufu, I ran out of cookies."

Apparently, Doflamingo wasn't pleased about anyone disregarding his existence either. The muscles and bones in her left leg _twisted_, and a scream burst from her throat.

"Oi, oi, woman, quite making a scene! You're quite imprudent. Don't you know that this house is the property of a warlord?" he said as he looked down on her. "...Hm? Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Her body suddenly flopped around and lifted itself up. She choked a gasp as her limbs moved without her will. _He's a Devil Fruit user!_

"Mingo-chan," Mia whined. "The cookies are in the kitchen. Please leave my toys alone~ You aren't even interested in women! And I just found her toooo~!"

"You fool!" Doflamingo said with a laugh. "Don't you know who this is? Fufufu!" He reverted his attention back to the captive at hand, the grin widening on his lips. "I guess that you joined the Kidd Pirates after all! You and your crew are getting to be quite the thorn in the World Government's side, don't you know that? I like you guys a lot, especially that hot ass captain of yours! In fact, it looks to me like you have a lot of fuckable ones in your crew." He licked his lips as Arria stared at him as if he was insane. In the background, Mia complained some more. "But... What should I do about you? I don't care if you get captured by the World Government or not, not to mention the money I'd get for turning you in, although that small amount would be pocket change to me- but I don't want to bother helping them out. And I can't just let you go free either; showing mercy won't go well with my reputation..."

"Mingo-chaaaan!" the female deviant whined again childishly. "Give her to me~! She's rightfully mine since I found her first!"

Arria glared at her heatedly out of corner of her eyes. "Touch me and I'll slit your throat!" she snarled.

The warlord laughed. "Oh she'll do _more _than just _touch_..."

_Snap_. Her body crumpled to the ground.

"Mamama~" Mia giggled, her eyes sparkling as she lifted up the unconscious younger woman with her giant arm. "She reminded me so much of Rozara~ Oh the _fun_ I used to have with that baby girl~ Mmm, this one _is_ a bit old for my taste though..."

* * *

_"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the way..._" Kidd scowled at the line of young, promiscuously-dressed girls singing their horrible remix of the traditional Christmas song and dancing in the middle of a crowd. Even though none of them were off note or anything of that likes, their high-pitched voices annoyed him, their cheerfulness was beginning to make him sick, and the way that one of them keep giving him tiny, flirtatious waves heightened his temptation to kill something.

Eustass 'Captain' Kidd did not like this island, and he wanted to set sail as soon as possible. Granted, he would like it much better if he could destroy this park and leave every single one of those girls bleeding and dead, but Killer would get mad at him and that could very possible lead up to his first mate moving back to his own room again. After so much hard work - studying his ass off every day, being on his best behavior, and buying that sash to soothe his lover's rage again - he wasn't about to let all that effort go to waste.

"It's all that shrimp's fault! If he hadn't gotten kidnapped, we could've set sailed by now!" he growled, scaring all the people around him. He paid no attention as they backed away at the sight of his devilish appearance, and called for Zinc. "Roach! We're going to Mama's Home!"

"Yes, my-"

"SHUT UP! I DIDN'T GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK!" he barked, and stomped out of the crowd, shoving anyone in his way aside without care.

Kidd had no idea how it was going to go of course. Other than the fact that he wanted to set sail and to get away from all the cheerfulness, he also wanted to have an excuse to start a fight. Remembering how the House of Seas and Stars went, he found himself smirking a little. The memory of that had been fun; now he wondered why he didn't enjoy kicking that Rosier-fellow's ass as much as he would now. Things change, he supposed. But in addition to fighting, he reminded himself that he wasn't just facing any nameless man; he was about face a warlord. One of the proclaimed most powerful scoundrels the world had the misfortune to have! A dog of the World Government.

He looked at the ridiculous cake-shaped manor in the distance, and fantasized about the vision of its decimation, all fire and ashes. The pedophiles inside would be begging for their lives at the top of their lungs, only to find that no one would help them. He pictured the civilians running away from him in terror as he howled with laughter in front of the fire. He pictured crushing Doflamingo to death for cutting into his little quarrel before. The fame that such victory would generate would be sensational. He was going to make every marine in the world shit his pants until no one dared to deny that he was the next King of Pirates!

It was a good fantasy. It was so good that he began cracking up rather maniacally as he lost himself in the daydream. Seeing his facial expression, several nearby babies burst into tears.

"...Is he mentally sound?" Hiroki, who just so happened to have bumped into them a moment ago, asked Zinc.

"That is not important," Bat-chan answered, gazing at his great and idiotic leader with the uttermost pride and admiration. "For he is still always right! _Never_ question his undeniable genius, Comrade Ziroki!"

"Let's go kick that warlord's ass!" Kidd declared.

* * *

Meanwhile, as things worsened for Arria in the Home, as Kidd declared his reckless intention towards this dilemma, Chevy stood by his lonesome near the rubbish of the casino with a peeved look on his face. He wasn't technically alone if one counted the numerous civilians, tourists and whatnot passing by him, but even though it already had been over ten minutes since he waited, none of the others showed up.

"I should have set a time for all of us to meet," he grumbled regretfully under his breath, scratching his head while contemplating on what to do. He scanned his surroundings once more, hoping for any signs of his crew mates arriving. "They can't all be that far away, can they? And what about Arria? She said that she'll be back once she's done dropping Perry off on the ship? Where's she? ...Did I come too early or too late?"

Worry overtook contemplation, and he found himself looking towards Mama's Home, indecisive as to his next step.

"It can't be that hard to get Chuckie back, can it?" he asked himself, then remembering that the owner of the place was a warlord who was also currently on the island, and winced in fear imagining a theoretical situation of what might happen to him if he angered a criminal of that caliber. A shiver ran down his spine. The thought wasn't pleasant.

_Then..._

"...I'll just have to sneak in and get him back myself," he concluded, setting his right fist into his left palm with determination.

And with that, he set off on his own, leaving the pile of rubbish behind. His figure disappeared down the street as he ran towards the Home as fast as he could.

Incidentally, two minutes later, a loud clamor came down the opposite end of the street in the form of two men having a shouting match. Their fight parted the curious, disturbed crowds of civilians as they raced for the casino ruins, pointing fingers, shaking fists, and yelling at each other in booming, ear-shattering voices. A cloud of dust followed their speedy run, vanishing as they slowed down and stopped in front of the wreckage.

"...You were the bastard who went around screaming like an idiot, not me!" Camry screamed at his oldest brother.

"And what the hell were you doing to help?" Mustang barked back. "Can't you tell that I was drawing attention on purpose? That's how you get things done- you draw attention to yourself! How do you expect to find someone or get help if you can't get some attention? It's common sense, baka!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING STUPID?"

"I AM YOUR ELDER! THEREFORE, I CAN INSULT YOU!"

"WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?" Camry raged.

"LOGIC DOES NOT APPLY TO ME!"

"AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE AN IDIOT! NORMAL, LOGICAL PEOPLE DON'T GO AROUND SCREAMING LIKE A BANSHEE!"

"I WAS DRAWING ATTENTION!"

The banter went back and forth for another or so minutes before they tired out and called it quit. After that, things went more or less a little rational. They looked once at the ruins of the casino, once at the manor in the distance, and nodded at each other.

"Let's go ahead, Aniki?" Camry asked. "The more time we waste waiting for the rest of them, the more likely that something happens to Chuckie."

"Why not?"

* * *

Chevy planted a firm foot on the sloped surface of the jagged, snow-covered mountainside as he held on to the climbing rope. He looked up, brushing snow from his nose, and muttered with vexation at the small gray cloud that had gathered overhead and was now mercilessly snowing upon him. In the middle of swearing, he sneezed.

"Of all the places and time to have a storm..." he complained, his fingers getting more and more numb the longer he held on. He looked back down again towards the manor below.

He wasn't looking at the manor as a whole, but pinpointing his gaze towards one particular window. Said window was the only opened window he could see, and it was an unfortunate sight that he would rather not see at the moment, if ever. A kid was being cuffed and tied by a man with a Rockabilly. The child, whom he could tell was a female, sniffed and whimpered as the man snaked the chains around her waist. She was wearing a rather revealing bunny costume, completed with the ears and a puffy little tail.

Chevy stilled, and tried to lean in to hear what the man was saying.

The guy yanked the girl's chin up, and squeezed her teary cheeks.

_Oi... Don't tell me_... The pirate's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open before he clenched his teeth in rage. _That bastard! So it's true that this is a child prostitution house._

He looked towards the top of his rope to see that he was secure, then to the opened window. A surprised expression washed over his face to see that the man had left.

"...Huh? Where did he go?"

_No, wait._

As soon as he had thought that, another figure entered the room. This time, it was a fat middle-aged business man with a pot-belly and sharp mustache, draped in warm scarves and wear a gray coat. Chevy could make out his giggling wide lips as he rubbed two hammy hands together, staring at the girl, who silently crying. The man closed the window, sealing the only possible entrance in, before he set down his big black case, took off his outer clothing, and turned to his tied up "host" with grabby, wiggling needy fingers.

_Pe-pedophile-_ The girl's mouth widened with a cry as the big hands came in contact with her body, and Chevy pushed himself off the mountain side without another thought.

_Craaaash!_ The glass window shattered as he kicked a hole, the shards flew.

"W-What? Who are-" the business man shouted as the pirate landed on his feet. "The fuck? I didn't order you! What kind of a whore house is this?"

Normally, Chevy wouldn't interfere; Camry were usually there to do the moral-justice thing for the rest of them. But his older brother wasn't here this time. And besides, his mother in heaven, Chuck Nora, would never forgive him if he turned a blind eye to this. Children shouldn't be treated like that.

Without answering, he kicked the pedophile in the gut as hard as he could, making the man bellow in pain, and grabbed that half-balded head and slammed it against the hard wood floor before the man could cry out again. A couple more kicks later, the pedophile was out cold.

Chevy huddled as a chill wind drifted into the room before he turned towards the stunned girl.

"H- Hello," he greeted with chattering teeth as he came forward. She tried to shrink back from him as he moved to free her from the chains. "Don't worry, I'm not one of them- I won't hurt you," he reassured, coming in contact with her. "I'll leave a rope here so you can climb out from the window. I don't know if you have a family or home on the island, but getting out of here is more important." The chains rattled as the lock fell with a _clank!_ on the floor. The little girl hugged herself and stared at him in shock as he peeled the coat off her molester. "Here, it's cold outside."

"Uh- T-Tha-"

"No need," he said before she could finish the syllable, a hand grasping the handle of the door. "I got some business here. You take care!"

He opened the door, ran out and down the hall as stealthily as he could and-

_Click._

Chevy stopped dead in his track at the sound of the pistol.

"Stupid kid," someone said behind him. "You think that we don't have surveillance cameras?"

* * *

She was pissed.

It was hard to tell where she was- someone has blindfolded her with a leather strip. She couldn't feel anything as they'd stripped her down and dressed her in latex; the rubbery substance covered every inch of her body except for part of her face, which was still bandaged. Her limbs were stretched and chained. Her long braid was dangling downwards, giving her an idea that maybe she was hung somewhere. Overall, it wasn't pleasant. She didn't know her whereabouts, she didn't know who'd done this to her.

But she knew that she was pissed, and that was very important.

The rage pumped adrenaline in her bloodstream, and the thrashing started.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Mia tsked from somewhere near. Her head swirled in the direction of the voice. "How animal-like! That's no way for a lady to behave."

"I'm going to dice your intestines and shove them down your throat piece by piece!" she howled, not caring about the fact that her body was flopping like a fish out of water in mid-air. "You overgrown bitch-" A harsh strip whipped her body, shredding a part of the latex and marking a burn into her stomach. She screamed.

The Mama moaned and laughed as Arria felt a slimy tongue licking the burn on her abdomen. "Curse me and threaten me all you want. Your beautiful cries and pleads for mercy will be all I need! That's why I don't like gags on my slaves. Noises are so much more fun~! Don't worry, I always take _good_ care of my things~!"

The chained woman suddenly twisted her body and kicked. Hard. A sneer curved her lips as she felt her foot impacting the side of her captor's face.

"Go scratch your own itch," she said, viciously spitting a mouthful of saliva down at the other. Her blood was boiling as her voice grew louder with each passing syllable. "And go do it while you're can, 'cause I'm going to kill you, you hear me? How dare you touch me! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU WON'T BE HUMAN ONCE I'M DONE- AAAAAAAAGGRRH!" The whip struck again, burning another strip into her body.

"Mamama..."

_Where?_ Her ears twitched. Suddenly, that laugh was everywhere. _She left? No... I'm being moved!_

"Think you're tough to break?" Mia's voice was suddenly very close. A tongue licked her face, drawing out a snarl. "Let me test that~! Here's your sword, I think we should play a game~! Mamamama~!"

"The fuck are-"

The chain rattled, then loosened.

And that was how she landed into Chevy's trap.

* * *

"So..." Mustang said with a soldierly stare. "...This is the front door."

A tiring sigh came from Camry, who stood on the left of his oldest brother, massaging his temple to calm his nerves. "Yes, Aniki, we've established that fact," the younger answered drily. "Now, since our goal is to find a way to sneak in, let's turn our attention _away_ from the front door so we can form a decent plan, _please_?"

"Form a plan?" came the echo. "What are you talking about? We already have a plan! We go in there, and ask them nicely to give Chuckie back. But if they don't, we kick their asses, kidnap him back and run away as fast as possible before the warlord interferes! That's our plan!"

"That's a terrible plan!" Camry barked at him. "You gave it no strategic thought! We're gonna get killed!"

But he wasn't listening.

"Oi, Aniki, at least we should wait for the others- What are you doing? Get away from there!" he protested. "We should sneak in from the back and-"

_Knock, knock, knock._ "CHUCKIE! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SCREAM!"

Camry ground his teeth and hissed under his breath, an eyebrow twitching in irritation. His hands reached for his boomerangs and gripped them tight as he walked behind his brother. The Shichibukai could be anywhere. He'd heard all kinds of stories about those pirates-turned-privateers. One wrong move and they would be dead without knowing it. Where were the others anyway? Why were they the only ones here?

The front door cracked open slightly, and his body tensed.

"Aniki-"

"Don't worry, I got this," Mustang assured as footsteps rang out.

A wave of welcoming heat blasted from inside onto their faces, tingling their icy cold skins, reminding them just cold they were. In front of them, dressed red and white, was a tall, thin whitely bearded individual with a white Rockabilly. Bells hung all over his being. The cook's eyes narrowed once he recovered.

_A real pedophile._

"Excuse me," Mustang began diplomatically. "My name is Mustang and this is Camry. We're looking for-" The bells jingled quietly. "- a boy named Chuckie. He's our little bro. He's around the age of ten and has a blond af..." A yawn. Camry felt his eyelids growing heavier. His fingers loosened their grips on his weapons. His shoulder slackened. In the distance, he heard Mustang's speech becoming more and more slurry. "...ro...And... Uh..."

_Jingle. _

"We..." Another yawn.

_Jingle. Jingle._

"Hohoho..."

The melody was tranquilizing. He'd never heard such calming lullaby before.

_No... Wait, something's wro..._

"You're most welcomed."

_Thud._

* * *

"What the-"

"Who-"

"WHERE IS SHE? I'LL FUCKING KILL HER! I'LL SKIN HER ALIVE! SHE'S DEAD! _DEAD!_" Arria shrieked, tangled in the nest of ropes and knives as Chevy gaped at her appearance in horror.

He had been running for the past twenty minutes, dodging his chasers, setting traps wherever he could, and generally trying to get an idea of the floor plan of this manor. It had been utterly exhausting. Because of the chase, slowing down and carefully observing his surrounding was next to impossible, not mentioning the sheer size of the place. The guards were all on his tail, it seemed like, and he was beginning to wish that he'd waited for someone, because there was no way that he could take on that many enemies at once. He just didn't have the strength.

"Forget her, get the brat!"

_Shit!_ he thought in panic. _That trap was suppose to be for them! Where did she come from?_ "A- Arria!"

"Who the hell is this?" she demanded as the pedophile guards run closer.

"It's me, Chevy! How the hell did you-"

"It's you!" she snarled in anger, making him jump. "You and your stupid brothers! Why the hell were you so slow? I was waiting for all of you and none of you bastards show up, so I had to go ahead by myself! Where the hell am I now?"

"Uh- This really isn't the time to talk- AAAAAH!"

"GET HIM!"

He fumbled for his spare dagger as they leaped at him, forgetting all about his female nakama for a second, and-

_WHAM! _A long leg slammed one pedophile right in the back of his head, making him drop like a fly. No sooner than that, the twin of the leg pair collided with the other pedophile, knocking the second one out cold. Chevy froze in shock as the two bodies crumpled in front of him.

"Did I get them?" the woman asked. Her legs were doing a near perfect split in mid-air as she rotated upside-down within the ropes slowly. "I'm blindfolded. There are only two of them right?"

"Ye- Yes, you did," he answered with hesitation.

"Good," she said. "You better watch out, kid. It seems like I'm in a some sort of a web of ropes and small knives. I have no idea how I fell into one of these. That bitch said that she was freeing me to 'play a game', but the next thing I know, I'm trapped like a rabbit. These maybe perverts, but they seem pretty clever. Don't underestimate them. There may be more of these traps laying around us that we don't know of."

Silence.

"Actually, I was the one who put the trap there," he confessed quietly.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Three minutes later she was freed.

"So," she said as they adjusted the guards' red and green uniforms one last time before putting on the Rockabilly wigs, completing the disguise. "What have you found out so far?"

* * *

The steel entrance door was shut tight.

"Sencho, I don't think that it's wise to use the front door," Hiroki voiced. "Perhaps we should try sneaking in from the back?"

Kidd turned around for a second to give him a malicious grin, arms folded and head high with pride. A scoff escaped his lips. "Use the back door? Don't be ridiculous! What kind of a coward do you take me for? Sneaking and dilly-dallying around are for soft, weak thieves! I'm a pirate, and real pirate always goes through the front door! Why do you think they created doors for, you stupid shipwreck?"

Said shipwright frowned. "I'm simply suggesting that this isn't a good idea."

"Nonsense! This is a _great_ idea!"

"As all ideas of the great Fuh-"

"Shut up, Zinc," Kidd snapped as he raised a tingling arm. "_RE-_

"This is very suicidal," Hiroki warned again.

"-_PEL!_"

_BOOOM!_ Too late. He looked up just in time to see the double steel door flying backwards from his captain's _repel_, taking a large chunk of the surrounding wall with it. A slow soft chuckle came from Kidd's direction as the impact sounded, which quickly escalated into full blown laughter as the smoke from the attack cleared out. Clearly, Kidd was enjoying this. Hiroki himself retreated his hands back into his sleeves, his back straightened, alerted for an ambush.

"_Siiiilent night, hooooly niiight. Aaaaaaall is caaaaalm, aaaaaaall is briiight..._" the song coming from a Den Den Mushi track player welcomed them.

...

"..._Sleeeeep in heeeaavenly peeeeace... Sleeeeep in heeeeeeavenly peace..."_

Kidd's gleeful expression twitched and fell. _The fuck is this?_

"I know this song," Hiroki said pleasantly. "I used to carol as a small child. It was a Christmas classic."

Kidd's jaws clenched as multiple veins vein popped on his forehead and neck. "I. Don't. Care!"

_BOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

"Sencho, wait-"

"YOU AREN'T GETTING AWAY WITH MOCKING ME, DOFLAMINGO!" the captain snarled, running towards the enlarged opening before anyone could stop him.

In an instance, his power extent with a collection of metallic objects. The Den Den Mushi exploded and flew into pieces because of the electromagnetism, terminating the music. He stopped for a split of a second, long enough to see that the warlord was nowhere in the room, before exploding in rage. "You must have a death wish, you bastard!" he screamed at no one. "First you messed with _me_, then you kidnapped one of _my_ nakamas, and now you just blew your last chance by showing me your terrible taste in music! YOU'RE DEAD!"

At his last words, the carpet beneath his feet suddenly gave away, and down he fell.

Hiroki and Zinc both hesitated by the doorway in surprise in the middle of their run, seeing the trap.

"Fuhrer, I shall save you!" the Spartian cried bravely, leaping right into the dark hole without a second thought.

"No-" Too late.

"AAAAAAAAAHH!" came the battle cry.

Hiroki was exceedingly annoyed by this point. _How is it possible that they _not_ sensed the trap? _

He stood fuming in silence by the doorway, half thinking that he should wait outside, half thinking about getting Killer and let him take care of this. In no way did he even considered going after the two idiots as a possibility. It would be absolute foolishness to run into danger like they did. If they were so keen on taking care of things themselves, then he might as well consider his job done here. Maybe Donquixote Doflamingo would be nice enough to leave the corpses for proper burials.

With a shake of his head, Hiroki turned away.

Then his feet started walking towards the waiting trap.

The pirate blinked in alarm, startled by the lack of control to his own body. Trying as he might, his legs refused to cooperate with him, as the rest of his body was also.

_No._

"...Fufufufu!" came the laughter from beneath the wooden floor.

_Shit._

A second later, he joined his crew mates.

* * *

"So you're basically calling me weak?" Arria said in all her arrogance, shooting him a poisonous glare. "At least _I _wasn't screaming like a girl! _You_ barely made it without my help, ungrateful little runt!"

"That's not what I mean! We're trying to get my brother back from a warlord, one of the most fearsome pirates of the seas, meaning that we're on a mission of _stealth_! Under this kind of circumstance, what kind of stupid person would go through the front door?" Chevy criticized, then ironically added, "I bet that you're the only one!"

She stared at him flatly. "Doors are there for a reason! Why go through a window when you have a _door_? You make no sense!"

The disguise proved to be very effective. After disposing the stripped bodies of the guards in a nearby closet, their trip around the manor had been a piece of cake. Most of the halls they went through were fairly voided of guards, and the once or twice they were approaching anyone, they'd shut up and played the part. Pedophiles, engaged in their own hush-hush discussions, left them alone. They learned that a lot of the guards were in the surveillance room, watching the recordings to satisfy their voyeuristic fetish. Apparently, the halls were not camera-observed; no one had sex there, so there was no point.

Both pirates were disgusted, but reminded themselves that killing pedophiles weren't the reason why they were here.

It was, therefore, extremely easy to find out where 'Jingle' Klaus' room was.

"It won't work."

"It _will_," Arria insisted. "Now shut up."

Klaus room was behind a door heavily secured by a coded system. In front of the door was a Den Den Mushi.

She had decided that in order to gain access in, she must imitate Donquixote Doflamingo, and fool Klaus into thinking that she was his employer. Chevy was desperately trying to convince her that it was a bad idea.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're- you have a woman's voice! How can his subordinate not tell the difference when he's been working for the warlord for years? Arria, please don't do this-"

"I said, "shut up"! Don't doubt my vocal imitation ability! How the hell did you think that I survived all these years?" she snapped, picking up the Den Den Mushi. Chevy winced as she cleared her throat twice, rubbed her neck, and coughed. Her finger pressed talk with the uttermost certainty, causing him to mentally wince; he could tell that there was no way that this was going to work. The machine beeped, and blasting from the speaker was Chuckie's scream.

"Chu-" The older brother didn't even get to finish a syllable before Arria slapped her hand close on his mouth, silencing him.

"Goddamn it, Chuckie! Stop your whining, it's not helping with the situation!" Camry's voice boomed as well. "You're giving us a headache!"

_No way! That pedo's got Aniki and Camry-niisan too!_

A strained look washed over Arria's face for a second as she saw him beginning to panic. Then she clasped her hand down tighter to the point where he couldn't even get out a muffled sound. Unfortunately, she just so happen to have covered his nose too in the process, cutting off all his oxygen. She shot him an irritated look as his arms and legs started to flail in the air, unaware of what she'd done and mistaking his panic for air for him deliberately trying to make her job harder than it was.

"Quiet, I got this," she whispered as he started turning blue. "You're a man, you can take it if something happens to them!"

_But- but... I can't breath! _He was ignored.

"Oi, didn't you hear the beep go off? Answer me, you mediocre buffoon!" the woman barked in the deep, masculine voice into the snail's talker. Her face was twisted in perfect villainous relish.

Chevy's eyes popped out of his socket.

Normally, he would stop and wonder just what a mediocre buffoon was, and maybe contemplate the absurdity of the word combination. But right now, all he could do was listen in awe as she did her imitation of Donquixote Doflamingo's voice, and at the same time struggle to get her to see that she was suffocating him. Even though he didn't know what said warlord sounded like, the fact that there wasn't the slightest trace of feminine hint was enough to amaze him.

Hearing the other end picking up, he dared say that she was doing a pretty accurate job.

Her hand loosened a little, and he pried it away, taking in the badly needed oxygen. She spared him a dirty look, as if non-verbally calling him a sissy, before returning to the matters at hand.

"D-Doflamingo-sama," 'Jingle' Klaus sputtered in his quiet voice, sounding a little intimidated. In the background, constant wailing of "help me!" could be heard, along with his older brothers having another shouting match. Chevy held his breath. "...I am sorry that I did not personally greet you earlier, but I am occupied with several new 'toys'. Is this important?"

Definitely accurate, or the guy simply never hung out around his employer much.

"Of course this is important. You think that I'd waste time making small talks with a stupid bastard like you if it's not?" Arria-Doflamingo snarled.

Silence followed. The tension built around them.

_...Is she too out of c__haracter?_ Chevy wondered, half wishing that he'd seen the warlord beforehand to know the answer. In the background, Chuckie had quieted down. The two older brothers were bickering in inaudible whispers. He also noticed that her facade was beginning to falter. Confusion flickered in her eyes. Was the pedophile not fooled?

"...What is it, Doflamingo-sama?"

"Next time, answer faster! Just open the damn door, we'll talk face to face about this."

"Hohoho..." came the quiet laugh. "...Of course. I am forever grateful to you for giving me this _wonderful _job, when my_ love_ for children is despised everywhere else. I will answer you at whatever speed you desire." His gasping, husky old voice only made everything repulsive. "It's surprising, since you rarely summon me or come to me. But to have your grateful presence will be an honor. These new toys refuse to be quiet, but I'm sure that I can take care of them without a problem if they become too much of a nuisance."

"Shit! The warlord's about to come in!" Mustang screeched in the background. "We're dead meat!"

"Screaming won't help, Aniki!" Camry screamed.

"You're screaming too!"

"...Shall I kill them beforehand for you, Doflamingo-sama?" Klaus asked.

"No, no, just open the door! I can take care of them myself," Arria-Doflamingo answered in the most haughty voice she could muster. "A couple of small fries aren't any big deals! MUH! ...HA! ...HA! ...HA! ...HA!"

"Aaaaah! We're dead!" Chuckie wailed from the inside. "He's evil! His laugh sounds just like the villain from episode thirty-one of the Daft Man and Punk Boy Den Den Mushi series! Remember how Fissiono had destroyed the whole city using a giant ray gun, Aniki? It was the episode where he sent Daft Man to Limbo and put Punk Boy in a coma! Everything melted to the ground! Remember that episode?" "Actually, I never saw past episode fifteen-" "We're dead! That warlord will kill us all! We're all gonna- What you mean you never saw past episode fifteen?"

"Too boring. The plot repeats and got too predictable," Mustang criticized. "Plus, Daft Man shaved off his Rockabilly and went bald in episode ten, so the show wasn't as awesome after that."

Chuckie screamed with horror.

"What?"

"...I don't know you anymore!"

Chevy sweat-dropped.

Arria's expression, on the other hand, went from insane to smug to suspicious. The malicious grin faded in favor of angry thin lips and dark eyes. Her grip on the Den Den Mushi tightened, and she leaned forward.

"Didn't you hear me, you good-for-nothing? Open the door! What the hell are you waiting for? Christmas?" she snarled at the snail that mimicked Klaus' ragged somber old face.

No reaction.

"OI!" she bellowed again.

_No_, Chevy thought, feeling uneasy. _We did something wrong, we must have._

Finally, Klaus answered them. "Doflamingo-sama doesn't laugh like that."

...

Arria's eyes had grown as wide as saucer plates and seemed to be popping out of their sockets. Chevy could almost hear a crow flying over their heads amid the awkward silence.

"Non- Nonsense! I did his laughter _perfectly!_" she snarled in her normal voice, veins lining her forehead. "Let us in, you bastard!" They heard a soft scoff from the other end, followed by the clanking noise of the Den Den Mushi being hung up. Her face grew furious as she realized what just happened. "OI! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? HANGING UP ON- YOU- PICK UP YOUR SNAIL! I'M NOT DONE WITH- ARE YOU LISTENING-"

At last, she, tired of speaking in fragmented speech, also slammed her end down with frustration and anger. Chevy watched and sighed to himself as she unsheathed her sword.

"So he wants to do this the hard way, huh?" he heard her hiss.

"Please no-" he tried to stop her, and was ignored. A split second later, she cut down the door in a fit of rage. Thundering footsteps of the Home's security immediately answered to the intrusion.

He face-palmed and groaned.


End file.
